Day after rescue ICSI: eliminating total fertilization failure after conventional IVF with high live birth rates following cryopreserved blastocyst transfer

STUDY QUESTION What is the impact of day after rescue ICSI (r-ICSI) on success of fresh and frozen embryo transfers? SUMMARY ANSWER The use of r-ICSI can virtually allay fears of total fertilization failure (TFF) after conventional IVF (C-IVF) and achieve high live birth rates after frozen blastocyst transfer. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY More infertility clinics have resorted to the use of ICSI in place of C-IVF in IVF treatment owing to fear of TFF or a low fertilization rate. r-ICSI has been attempted either on the day of IVF or the day after. Day after r-ICSI has proved unsuccessful in the past. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION A retrospective data analysis was performed of 16 608 qualifying cases between April 2010 and July 2021 conducted at a single private academically affiliated fertility clinic. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS r-ICSI was performed principally on patients with >4 metaphase II oocytes, showing no signs of fertilization 18 h after C-IVF. C-IVF was performed on patients who had >4 million total motile sperm after preparation. r-ICSI was then performed 18-24 h after insemination, using the sperm sample from the previous day. r-ICSI fertilization rates, cryopreservation of cleavage and blastocysts embryos, and pregnancy rates after fresh or frozen transfer were then assessed. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE r-ICSI was performed on 377 patients (2.3% of eligible retrieval cycles) who had a mean (+/- SD) female and male age of 35.9 +/- 4.5 and 38.1 +/- 9.1 years, respectively. A total of 5459 oocytes were initially retrieved. Of the oocytes undergoing r-ICSI, 2389 (49.5%) fertilized normally, and 205 (54.4%) patients underwent a fresh embryo transfer. The live birth rates were 23/186 (12.3%) for fresh cleavage and 5/19 (26.3%) for fresh blastocyst stage transfers. In 145 cycles a blastocyst was frozen, and 137 transfers were performed with a 64/137 (46.7%) live birth rate. Of the 377 cycles receiving r-ICSI only, 25 of the qualifying cases failed to have any fertilization, reducing TFF to 25/16 608 (0.15%). LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION This was a single-center retrospective study on a specific subset of patients, which may limit its generalizability to other clinics. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS r-ICSI allows a second opportunity to fertilize oocytes despite poor initial outcomes. Patients who had a frozen blastocyst transfer achieved high live birth rates, indicating that a resynchronization of the embryo with the endometrium can optimize r-ICSI cases. r-ICSI allays fears of TFF when using C-IVF, providing evidence that the overuse of ICSI in patients without male factor may not be warranted. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) The study was internally funded by Boston IVF. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest in relation to the data published in the article.

Automated summary

The use of r-ICSI can eliminate concerns about total fertilization failure (TFF) after conventional IVF (C-IVF) and achieve high live birth rates after frozen blastocyst transfer.