Intracytoplasmic injection of spermatids postmeiotic maturation arrest

The microinjection procedure is the established method of choice in treatme nt of severe male factor subfertility. Recent studies have shown that ferti lization and cleavage of oocytes can be achieved even with the injection of immature sperm cells, such as round and elongated spermatids, offering a n ew treatment possibility for patients with postmeiotic maturation arrest. H owever,the rate of ongoing pregnancies is still low compared to the pregnan cy rates achieved by injection of mature spermatozoa. Especially in the cas e of round spermatid injection, diverse difficulties arise for the IVF labo ratory team,for example the identification and differentiation from other r ound cells in the sample and the lack of vitality marks. Recently, the use of immature gametes has been thought to lead to higher risks of genetic def ects. Therefore the injection of immature sperms should be a method of choi ce only in cases of total absence of mature spermatids and free spermatozoa .