Cryopreserved Human Sperm, to Thaw or to Scratch?

Objective: To examine whether IVF/ICSI outcome differs when using a cryopreseved donor sperm after complete thawing of the semen vial or its scratching.

Design: Retrospective case-control study.

Setting: Tertiary, university-affiliated medical center.

Patient(s): We compared the IVF/ICSI outcome of patients who used donor sperm following a scratching of the cryopreserved semen vial (n=99) to a control group consisting of patients, matched by age, in which the semen vial was completely thawed before its use (n=99).

Main outcome measure(s): Live birth rate, pregnancy rate (PR), number of top-quality embryos and number of embryos transferred.

Results: While no in-between groups differences were observed in the stimulation variables, the number of top-quality embryos and the number of embryos transferred were significantly lower in the scratch, as compared to the control group (1.33+0.17 vs 1.87+0.17, p+0.11 vs 2.13+0.1, p

Conclusions: In cases where the available cryopreserved semen samples are limited, scratching of the vial without thawing should be used with caution and only in very specific cases.