Effect of early cumulus cells removal and early rescue ICSI on pregnancy outcomes in high-risk patients of fertilization failure

AbstractObjective: The objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate clinical outcomes of early cumulus cells removal and early rescue intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in high-risk patients of fertilization failure during human in vitro fertilization (IVF).Methods: A total of 5,518 patients were enrolled between January 2014 to December 2016. Of which 505 couples performed short insemination with >30% fertilization rate were included in short-term IVF group, 102 patients detected total fertilization failure (TFF) were treated with early rescue ICSI (R-ICSI group), and 4911 couples underwent conventional IVF with overnight co-incubation of gametes (traditional IVF group). The clinical outcomes were analyzed among the three groups.Results: The embryo implantation rates (40.34%, 39.78% and 42.42% for traditional, short-term IVF and R-ICSI groups, respectively) were comparable in the three groups. The clinical pregnancy rates among traditional IVF group, short-term IVF group and R-ICSI group we...