Clinical significance of sperm morphology in male infertility treatment

Introduction. Sperm morphology is one of the most common tests infertility practice. The interlaboratory variability is the main drawback of the method. The clinical significance of sperm morphology in assisted reproductive technologies is controversial. The aim of the review is to address this question. Materials and methods. The search of relevant publications was carried out in PubMed and e-Library databases using the keywords «male infertility», «sperm morphology», «teratozoospermia», «IUI», «IVF», «ICSI». Conference and dissertations were excluded from analysis and 56publications were included in this literature review. Results. The small numbers of studies were evaluated to the effect of teratozoospermia on the likelihood of natural pregnancy. The pregnancy rate was higher in the group of couples with normozoospermia. In the couples with severe teratozoospermia pregnancies rate was also detected. The most studies did not reveal a statistically significant effect of tertozoospermia on the frequency of pregnancy during intrauterine insemination. The data about the influence of sperm morphology on in vitro fertilization are contradictory. Early studies showed a positive correlation between normal sperm morphology and frequency of conception, but these results were not confirmed in further studies. The most studies have not been revealed the correlation between normal sperm morphology male fertility status, clinical and live birth rate. Discussion. To date the spermatozoa mofophology studying remains the «starting point» ofa man's examination for infertility. However, the data available do not confirm its role in choosing the method ofassisted reproductive technologies or predicting their results. Conclusions. To date the role of sperm morphology on conceive and pregnancy frequencies in ART use is controversal. The data available does not confirm the value of this test as a proxy of higher pregnancy and birth of healthy child probability. The further studies are required to address this question.