ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine if basal serom follicle stimulating harmone (FSH) level could be a prognostic factor of the clinical outcome in in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in the couples with male factor infertility. Materials and METHOD: From December 1995 to March 1998, total 118 patients with male factor infertility were included in this study. Patients were allocated to the low basal FSH group (>8.5 mIU/ml) and the high basal FSH group (>8.5 mlU/ml). The basal levels of FSH were measured in the 3rd day of menstrual cycle preceding ovarian stimulation cycle in total IVF cycles by immunoradiometric assay (IRMA). Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t-test, Fishers exact test, and x2 test as appropriate. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. RESULTS: The total dose of exogeneous gonadotropin required in the patients of the high basal FSH group was significantly higher than that of the patients with the low basal FSH poup (p < 0.05). The numbers of retrieved oocytes, oocytes with grade I, II, fertilized oocytes, cleaved oocytes, embryos with grade I, II, and transferred embryos were significantly higher in the low basal FSH group (p < 0.05), The clinical pregnancy rate per cycle in the low basal FSH gmup (15.7%) seemed to be higher than that in the high basal FSH poup (3.4%) (p 0.08), however, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that the basal FSH levels could be predictive of pregnancy outcome and the results of ovarian stimulation in IVF-ET using ICSL.