שלום,לדאבוני במקרים דומים לא תמיד תימצא סיבה גנטית או אחרת לכשלון החוזר בהפריה על רקע פגמים מורפולוגים בביציות הנגרמים בין היתר מהפרעות בהבשלה של הגרעין ,ובהבשלה של הציטופלסמה והסינכרוניזציה ביניהם.
בין הנסיונות לגרום להפריה אפשר לציין את מתן גורמי הגדילה,מתן נוגדי האינזים ארומטז כדי להקטין את רעילות רמות הגבוהות של האסטרוגן ,מתן קלציום יונופורם שמסוגל לגרום לאקטיבציה של הביציות,מתן סטרואידים ,החלפת גרעין של הביצית ,או החלפת ציטופלסמה טיפול במחזורים טבעיים ועוד...ריבוי הטיפולים מדבר בעד עצמו ,היות והתסכול הוא רב.
להלן פרשת מקרה דומה מהספרות על כל חמשת הנסיונות והאסטרטגיות הטיפוליות שכולן העלו חרס פרט לטיפול עם תרומת ביציות.
Fertility and Sterility
Volume 95, Issue 7, June 2011, Pages 2435.e5–2435.e7
Case report
Morphologically abnormal oocytes not capable of fertilization despite repeated strategies Xiuye Xing, M.D., Ph.D., Han Zhao, M.D., Ph.D., Mei Li, M.Sc., Mei Sun, M.D., Ph.D., Yuan Li, M.D., Ph.D., Zi-Jiang Chen, M.D., Ph.D.,
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China
Received 18 December 2010Revised 12 February 2011Accepted 21 February 2011Available online 27 March 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2011.02.048, How to Cite or Link Using DOIPermissions & Reprints
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Objective
To describe a case with repeated total fertilization failure due to oocyte defect.
Design
Case report.
Setting
University hospital.
Patient(s)
A patient with repeated total fertilization failure.
Intervention(s)
Assisted oocyte activation, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with calcium ionophore oocyte activation, donor semen, and donor oocytes.
Main Outcome Measure(s)
Fertilization, pregnancy, and live birth.
Result(s)
Five cycles of IVF/ICSI were performed. In the first IVF cycle, 19 oocytes failed to fertilize. In the second ICSI attempt, 12 oocytes were retrieved and were not fertilized. In the third and fourth natural cycles, donor semen was used for IVF and ICSI, respectively, yet the oocytes could not be fertilized even by assisted activation. Then donor oocytes were used in the fifth cycle by ICSI. All five donated oocytes fertilized normally, and three embryos were transferred on day 3. Clinical pregnancy was confirmed, and a healthy girl weighing 3,200 g was delivered at 39 weeks of gestation by cesarean section.
Conclusion(s)
In cases of repeated fertilization failure caused by oocyte defects, oocyte donation seems to be a good choice for patients who wish to become pregnant.
Key Words
Fertilization failure; in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer; intracytoplasmic sperm injection; oocyte activation; oocyte donation
The average normal fertilization rate in the contemporary IVF laboratory is approaching 70%–80% (1); however, total fertilization failure (TFF) still exists in rare cases. TFF, which refers to failure of fertilization in all mature oocytes (2), occurs in approximately 5% of IVF cycles (3) and in 1%–3% of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles (4). Fertilization failure (FF) is due to disorders of the fertilization process. Several reports support the contention that defective spermatozoa zona pellucida binding and penetration are major factors contributing to low fertilization with standard IVF (5). FF in ICSI is encountered as a result of a low number of mature oocytes (4) or disorders of the fertilization mechanisms after oocyte activation (6). Here we report a case with five cycles of IVF/ICSI TFF due to oocyte defects; however, a successful pregnancy and delivery were finally achieved after donor oocyte ICSI-ET.
Case report
Before this study, informed consent was obtained from the couple, and the study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board. A 30-year-old woman and her 29-year-old husband were referred to our hospital with primary infertility of 5 years’ duration. Besides fallopian tube obstruction, the couple was healthy.
The couple’s karyotypes were normal. The woman’s menstrual cycle was regular, and her hormone profile on day 3 was roughly normal (FSH, 7.44 IU/L; LH, 4.04 IU/L; E2, 44.0 pg/mL; PRL, 27.75 ng/mL; T, 46.46 ng/dL; TSH, 3.07 μIU/mL). Normal ovarian reserve was seen by transvaginal ultrasound (6∼7 small antral follicles in each ovary on menstrual day 3). The patient’s father died of liver cancer. Her mother had regular menstruation until menopause at 50 years old; she easily conceived and delivered four children—two boys and two girls. The patient’s elder sister is also healthy with two children. No other relatives had reproductive dysfunction. The woman’s husband had a normal sperm count according to World Health Organization criteria. Semen analysis revealed that in a 2-mL volume, sperm concentration was 199.9 × 106/mL with 85.69% motility. The semen analysis did not reveal globozoospermia.
The couple was advised to try IVF because of the wife’s tubal factor. In the first IVF cycle, the patient was initiated with GnRH. The duration of stimulation was 15 days. On the day of hCG administration, 15 oocytes were counted (diameter ≥14 mm). A total of 19 mature oocytes were retrieved. However, the majority of oocytes had morphological abnormalities such as small perivitelline space (PVS), small cytoplasm cavities, and/or three polar bodies (Fig. 1). All of the oocytes were inseminated using the husband’s sperm with normal count and progressive motility. However, none of the oocytes were fertilized.
Figure 1. The oocyte retrieved from the patient had morphological abnormalities such as small PVS, cytoplasm cavities, vacuole and three polar bodies (PB).
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After the first unsuccessful cycle, it was recommended to the couple that they undergo ICSI. In this second cycle, a long down-regulation protocol starting in the midluteal phase was used for ovarian stimulation. The starting gonadotropin dose was 150 IU, and the duration of stimulation was 8 days. On the ninth day, 8,000 IU of hCG was administered when 10 follicles with a diameter ≥14 mm appeared and the E2 level reached 6,430 pg/mL. Twelve metaphase II oocytes were retrieved with small PVS, and each of them was inseminated with spermatozoa from the husband’s fresh semen sample. On day 1 after insemination, the oocytes were checked for pronuclei (PN) and polar body extrusion. However, none of 12 injected oocytes exhibited PN, although each of them had two polar bodies. A small cavity in the cytoplasm could be observed in most of the oocytes. Because they did not cleave 48 hours after insemination, this cycle was canceled.
In the third and fourth natural cycles, donor semen was used for IVF and ICSI, respectively, to exclude the husband’s sperm penetration and activation anomalies. One oocyte was retrieved in each cycle but could not be fertilized. In the fourth cycle, the unfertilized oocyte was exposed to calcium ionophore A23187 (5 μmol/L) for 5 minutes after ICSI. Unfortunately, fertilization was not achieved again.
The fifth cycle was an hMG stimulation cycle prepared for donor oocytes ICSI. Meanwhile, two mature oocytes were retrieved from the patient herself. Both the patient’s two oocytes and five donor oocytes were injected with the husband’s sperm. The patient’s two oocytes were not fertilized, whereas the other five donor oocytes fertilized and divided, which provided further evidence that oocyte defects resulted in FF in this case. Three embryos were transferred to the patient on day 3. Finally, the patient successfully achieved pregnancy, and a healthy baby girl was delivered at 39 weeks of gestation by cesarean section, weighing 3,200 g without any congenital abnormality (Table 1).
Table 1. Treatment process of the five IVF/ICSI cycles.
Date Cycle Treatment Ovulation-promoting therapya No. of oocytes D1b Pregnancy outcome
May 2006 1 IVF Short 19 0PN3PB Failure
September 2008 2 ICSI Long 12 0PN2PB Failure
March 2009 3 Donor sperm IVF Natural 1 0PN2PB Failure
April 2009 4 Donor sperm ICSI + AOA Natural 1 0PN2PB Failure
June 2009 5c Patient’s oocyte ICSI hMG/hCG 2 0PN2PB Failure
Donor oocyte ICSI 5 2PN2PB Success
Note: PB = polar body.
aProtocols for ovulation-promoting therapy in each cycle. Short = GnRH agonist short protocol; Long = GnRH agonist long protocol; Natural = natural menstrual cycle.
bState of the oocytes 1 day after fertilization.
cTwo oocytes were from the patient, and five were from donors.
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Discussion
FF is one of the causes of infertility that is confirmed only after IVF and ICSI have been performed. In 2009, we had nearly 4,000 IVF/ICSI cycles, and our clinical pregnancy rate was approximately 45%. However, the number of repeated FFs in assisted reproductive technology (ART) that are caused by oocyte defects is two to three per 1,000 cycles in our center, which causes distress for patients. The causes for FF are complex and can be divided into three main categories: [1] abnormal semen characteristics (only immotile or round-headed spermatozoa for ICSI), [2] the inferior oocytes (number, abnormal morphology, damage after ICSI) (7), or [3] defects in the in vitro sperm/oocyte medium (8).
Recently, ICSI has become the standard treatment for infertility that is caused either by severe sperm defects or by FF in previous IVF cycles. However, FF still occurs after ICSI cycles and is caused by a low number of mature oocytes (4) or failure of oocyte activation (6). In other words, oocytes may contribute to unsuccessful fertilization after the ICSI cycle, especially the inherent poor qualities and development incompetence.
Several countermeasures can be taken to remedy FF that is caused by oocyte defects. First, increase the number of oocytes injected. Yanagida et al. (9) reported that the best way to decrease the rate of FF would be to perform ICSI on four or more oocytes. Second, ICSI combined with assisted oocyte activation (AOA) can also reduce the rate of FF. Many successful pregnancies and deliveries have been reported with treatment with AOA [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15] and [16]. There are many feasible AOA treatments, which can be commonly classified into three subtypes: mechanical, electrical, and chemical stimuli. As far as this reported case is concerned, the unfertilized oocyte was stimulated with calcium ionophore after ICSI. However, FF occurred once again. AOA could not rescue our oocyte FF.
The repeated TFF of this case was presumed to be due to oocyte defects. During the ART procedure, most of the oocytes had a small cavity in the cytoplasm and PVS was extremely small, which indicated the poor quality of the oocytes. ICSI with both the husband’s and the donor sperm could not rescue the oocyte’s inner defects for fertilization. We presume that there are some irremediable inherent defects in the patient’s oocytes. Therefore, in the fifth cycle, donor oocytes were used and a pregnancy and delivery were achieved.
In summary, we report a case of five cycles of TFF that was mainly caused by oocyte-inherent defects, and eventually a successful pregnancy and live birth were achieved with donor oocytes. Follow-up studies should focus on the mechanisms of TFF caused by oocyte defects and explore new strategies to rescue this kind of FF.