Is there any effect on the clinical outcomes of the spermatozoa selected by microfluidic chip in the intracytoplasmic sperm i̇njection cycle in patients with male factor?

Is There Any Effect On The Clinical Outcomes Of The Spermatozoa Selected By Microfluidic Chip In The Intracytoplasmic Sperm İnjection Cycle In Patients With Male Factor? Today, advanced sperm selection methods allow not only good sperm motility and morphology, but also high sperm integrity with lower deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage and DNA fragmentation rates. Clinical studies have been performed on advanced sperm selection methods such as MACS, IMSI and sperm birefringence techniques but there is no clinical study performed with Fertile Chip®, a micro fluidic liquid based sperm selection method. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the fertilization rates, embryo quality and pregnancy rates after ICSI using the fertile chip in patients with male infertility. A total of 128 patients according to the power analysis who would undergo ICSI therapy for male infertility were randomized. Sixty-four patients were allocated to the conventional swim-up method (control group) and 64 patients were allocated to the fertile chip as the sperm sorting method (study group). Oocyte pick-up was performed in all the patients. There was no statistically significant difference in the demographic data, treatment protocols and doses between the study and control groups. There was no statistically significant difference between fertilization rates (p꞊0,41). The implantation rates per cycle were 53,17% in the fertile chip group and 30,16% in the control group, and this difference was statistically significant in favor of the fertile chip group (p꞊0,004). When the pregnancy rates per embryo transfer were examined, it was found as 66,7% in the fertile chip group and 47,6% in the control group (p=0,047). When the clinical pregnancy rates per embryo transfer were examined, it was 57,1% in the fertile group and 36,5% in the control group (p=0,032). The rates of pregnancy and clinical pregnancy per embryo transfer were significantly higher in the fertile chip group than in the control group. When all patients were examined, the clinical pregnancy rates per patient included in the study were 56,3% in the fertile chip group and 35,9% in the control group. This difference was statistically significant in favor of the fertile chip group (p=0.033). As a result of our study, we found that the use of fertile chip as a sperm selection method increases the success of clinical pregnancy in patients who are planned for ICSI treatment due to male infertility. However, this study needs to be supported by analysis with higher number of working groups.