Background:
We conducted a retrospective study on a cohort of couples attending the Department of Andrology and Reproductive Physiopathology at Sandro Pertini Hospital in Rome for Intracytoplasmatic Sperm Injection (ICSI)-assisted reproduction programs. Some of the couples included in the study underwent more than one ICSI cycle. Between January 2015 and April 2017.
Objective:
To evaluate whether the advancing of the paternal age may have effect on the seminal parameters, thus negatively affecting the embryo formation, development and quality, as well as the pregnancy rate.
Materials and Methods:
Five hundred and forty three ICSI cycles were performed on 439 couples undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). Patients were subdivided into three male and three female age groups having similar size:
Men: ≤38 years (M
I
), 39–43 years (M
II
), ≥44 years (M
III
).
Women: ≤35 years (F
I
), 36–40 years (F
II
),≥41 years (F
III
).
Discussion and Conclusion:
Male age groups did not reveal any statistical significant differences in any age-related semen parameters. We also confirmed a statistical significant increase in the pregnancy rate of couples with older partner age difference and younger female. We found that the advanced male age increases the probability of obtaining one or no type A embryo (N
A
≤1), which was almost doubled in the M
III
group in comparison with M
I
, suggesting a negative effect of male age on the efficacy of the reproductive outcome in terms of a reduced number of type A embryos. Such an effect does not seem related to semen parameters and may deserve further investigations.
The overwhelming success of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients has opened a discussion among medical practitioners and the lay public on the real possibility of pregnancy and conception in females and males with CML. In the past 10 years this subject has acquired growing interest in the scientific community and specific knowledge has been obtained “from bench to bedside”. Embryological, pharmacological, and pathophysiological studies have merged with worldwide patient databases to provide a roadmap to a successful pregnancy and birth in CML patients. Male conception does not seem to be affected by TKI therapy, since this class of drugs is neither genotoxic nor mutagenic, however, caution should be used specially with newer drugs for which little or no data are available. In contrast, female patients should avoid TKI therapy specifically during the embryonic stage of organogenesis (5–12 weeks) because TKIs can be teratogenic. In the last 15 years, 41 pregnancies have been followed in our center. A total of 11 male conceptions and 30 female pregnancies are described. TKI treatment was generally terminated as soon as the pregnancy was discovered (3–5 weeks), to avoid exposure during embryonic period and to reduce the risk of needing treatment in the first trimester. Eleven pregnancies were treated with interferon, imatinib or nilotinib during gestation. Nilotinib plasma levels in cord blood and maternal blood at delivery were studied in 2 patients and reduced or absent placental crossing of nilotinib was observed. All of the patients were managed by a multidisciplinary team of physicians with obligatory hematological and obgyn consultations. This work provides an update on the state of the art and detailed description of pregnancy management and outcomes in CML patients.
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