RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection (IMSI) technique compared with conventional ICSI and previous ICSI attempts in oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia (OAT) patients. METHODS: The sperms were selected under high magnification (6,600x) and used to induce fertilization in previous ICSI patients by IMSI. These results were compared with previous conventional ICSI cycles in patients with OAT infertility. RESULTS: These results demonstrated no significant difference in the fertilization rate between IMSI and previous ICSI cycles (67.7% vs. 65.0%). However, the pregnancy and implantation rates with IMSI were significantly higher than those of the ICSI cycles (33.3% vs. 12.5% and 14.6% vs. 5.4%, respectively; p<0.05). The miscarriage rate among pregnant patients (18.2% vs. 37.5%) showed no statistically significant difference between groups. CONCLUSION: Compared to conventional ICSI, this study found that IMSI increased the IVF-ET success rates in patients with OAT.