2% normal form for ICSI

[ToughCOOKIE78]

Hello ladies,

I’m about to have a fresh cycle and my husband has only 2% of normal form in his sperm. We are doing ICSI and our doctor said it’s fine and not cause of concern...but I’m wondering if that means that his DNA is damaged/abnormal in that 2%?

Has someone been in the same situation or has any knowledge on this please?

Thanks a lot ❤️

[Hidden]

The form of sperm is often a different assessment to DNA damage, you would need a specific test for DNA fragmentation (ask for a COMET test).

98% DNA fragmentation would be unheard of....so I highly doubt that the 2% is related to DNA fragmentation. I would however suggest you ask for a specific test to measure the fragmentation xx

[ToughCOOKIE78 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Starfish, really helpful 😘

[Hidden in reply to ToughCOOKIE78]

Ps. to get the best sperm, you should find a clinic that uses IMSI, not ISCI - it will help them see 10X better to find the best sperm, especially important if your partner has 2% normal form sperm. The IMSI technique will help the embryologist to see the normal sperm better xx

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

This is really good to know. We’ve just been through our first cycle of ISCI and I haven’t heard of IMSI. Unfortunately it ended with a BFN last week but we have a few Frosties to play with.

I don’t know about you ladies but my feeling is that male factor fertility issues don’t seem to get much attention. It still seems to all be centred on the women.

I’m wondering if we should be getting more tests done for my husband. He has very low sperm count and had 5% normal form in his sample a few weeks ago. They also told us this was okay and not to worry about it.

Have either of you considered using sperm donors? We are trying to work out if we would stand a much better chance of success if we go the donor route and do IUI before we get to the point where my age might become an issue too. I see a lot of couples on here talking about donor eggs but not so much about donor sperm.

Good luck to you both on your journey. X

[ToughCOOKIE78 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Octopus! Yes I agree, sperm issues seem much less relevant...and I can see why...research show that eggs can repair damaged sperm so that plus advanced techniques like ICSI or IMSI make sperm’s issues not so relevant as opposed to eggs issues (which is my issue btw). My doctor said ICSI is good enough, I tried IMSI too but had same results and spent more money lol so I’ll stick to ICSI 😉

[Hidden in reply to ToughCOOKIE78]

I didn’t know eggs have the ability to repair sperm. Interesting stuff! Thanks for the information and best of luck with your treatment.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I tried donor sperm and got way better embryos. I have banked the donor sperm embryos and now I am trying again with my husband's sperm...as that is obviously preferable! I would do the DNA fragmentation test....and yes, doctors always blame the egg, it is so annoying! So sorry about your BFN, but great that you have frosties left xx

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for the information. Did you do a round with just donor sperm or did you do half donor half of your husbands?

Do they use the DNA fragmentation test to select sperm for ICSI or does it just tell you what percentage is fragmented?

[Helto200 in reply to Hidden]

We used donor sperm. Husband has zero sperms count from issues as a child. It took him a little bit of time to come to terms with it. Received counselling first, which helped. We now have a beautiful daughter and you wouldn't know that biologically she wasn't my hubbys. And yes, there is very little chat about infertility in men, my hubby found this as well. I guess it comes from the fact that men don't talk about it and the worry is that it takes a way their manhood. If anything, watching hubby with our girly, makes him even more of a man. If you want any more information then let me know. Best of luck with it all. X

[Hidden in reply to Helto200]

Hi, thanks for your response and congratulations on your little girl. My husband is happy to use donor sperm if it means we have a better chance of having a family. It would be great to learn more about your experience .I’ll messsage you, thanks for the kind offer.😀

[Helto200 in reply to Hidden]

Yes ask away. Message me anytime. X

[Naddy1]

Hi ToughCOOKIE78,

My OH had 0% on two separate occasions, on the day of egg collection it went up to 2%, I think this was due to the crazy amount of supplements I had him on. We had ICSI and out of our 12 eggs 10 fertilised and 8 made it to day 5.

We had spoken about doing a fragmentation test and it would have been on the cards if we had a high drop off number but we had none and so consultant said she assumes we don’t have high fragmentation.

I hope that makes sense. Willing to help if you have any other questions hun x

[ToughCOOKIE78 in reply to Naddy1]

Thank you Naddy, that’s very helpful. In our 3 previous cycles we always had all eggs fertilised (4 each cycle) and 80% got to day 5 so based on your experience sounds like we shouldn’t be dealing with high fragmentation either. That’s reassuring 😃

[try2020 in reply to ToughCOOKIE78]

hi Cookie we were referred for ICSI and I asked our consultant if we should do a frag test, he said we could but it wouldn't change what they would do, ie they'd still do ICSI, I heard an embryologist say the same in a podcast. Good luck 🧡

[MoMa1 in reply to Naddy1]

Hi Naddy1, can I ask you which supplements was your husband used please?

[Naddy1 in reply to MoMa1]

Sorry only just seen this, i would have to find the paperwork with it all wrote down as he isnt taking them any more. Also the two tests we had that showed 0% were on the nhs and the 2% was private so not sure if they look at the sample differently x

[MoMa1 in reply to Naddy1]

Thank you Naddy1 for your reply! Please check it and let me know 😘