RELATIONSHIP OF BACTERIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS TO SEMEN INDEXES AND ITS INFLUENCE ON FERTILIZATION AND PREGNANCY RATES AFTER IVF

Background. To determine if routine semen culture is useful in asympto matic couples joining an in-vitro fertilization (IVF/ET) program. Meth ods. Bacterial cultures and semen analysis according to WHO recommenda tions were performed on semen samples obtained before oocyte recovery from 88 asymptomatic couples undergoing IVF during a 7-month period. R esults. In 46 cultures at least one kind of microorganisms could be is olated. Forty-two cultures either contained bacterias regarded as norm al skin flora (n = 14) or showed no growth of microorganisms (n = 28). No differences were found in sperm concentration, total sperm count a nd sperm morphology between the semen samples with positive bacteriolo gy and those with negative culture results. Sperm motility was decreas ed before Percoll preparation if microorganisms were present. Positive culture results had no effect on either fertilization or pregnancy ra tes. Conclusions. These observations suggest that bacteriospermia is n ot associated with abnormal sperm function after Percoll preparation o r adverse IVF outcome.