# Sperm comet test / DNA fragmentation



## Justjen

Hi
Myself and the Mrs have begun a cycle with the Lister Clinic. Leading up to this I was seeing Dr Ramsay regarding my fertility issues. 

Part of my most recent test was. Sperm comet test which gave me a result of 44%. 
Dr Ramsay wasn't particularly happy with that but said we should do the cycle anyway. 

Now I'm stressing as we just got enough cash for the one cycle and I've been reading that males with above 30% DNA fragmentation have close to zero chance of fertilising a egg. 

Has anyone done this test and got a similar or worse result and had success with ivf. 

Thanks


----------



## Miss Sunshine22

Hi Justjen

We were all set to do a donor egg cycle, and my husband's sperm came back as 41% DNA fragmentation on the SpermComet test. I was freaking out, but the consultant told us that for levels below 50%, it was still acceptable to do IVF. He also said that younger eggs (our donor was 24 yrs old) can help repair high levels of fragmentation. For levels over 50%, ICSI was recommended.

In the end, we went ahead with the cycle, and did ICSI. I also found some papers thst suggested very frequent "cleaning of the pipes" improved DNA fragmentation, so DH got busy with that   (As you're under Dr R's care, I would suggest that you seek his advice on these papers, as this may not be suitable for everyone)

Anyway, we went ahead with the cycle, got 15 eggs, and 14 fertilised with ICSI. We got 8 top quality blasts from this, all 5AA and 4AA so the high fragmentation levels appeared to have no impact on quality. Our son was conceived on the third single blast transfer.

I hope it goes well for you.


----------



## WatermelonBelly

I think that you just need to have realistic expectations- that you're trying your best but it might work or might not. Statistically speaking, it's probably more likely to fail that succeed. I'd also do a few months of healthy eating (8+ of your 5 a day etc) + do supplements for you both, e.g. Profertil or Proxeed. Obviously no alcohol or cigarettes. That can help with the fragmentation and egg quality too so you'll be giving yourself the best chance possible. You could also try acupuncture and Chinese herbs although that would probably add up a bit so could be saved on another cycle instead.


----------



## Ellie84

Hi Justjen

My husband and i are also with the Lister and under the care of Dr Ramsay due to low sperm count and high dna fragmentation. Our first comet test which was a few weeks after our first unsuccessful ICSI cycle came back at 40%. After a course of supplements and healthier eating  my husband had another test 2 weeks before our second cycle. This came back at 68% dna fragmentation! Dr Ramsay suspects the increase may be because of some unrelated medication my husband took a few weeks ago but we cannot be sure. Pretty disappointing obviously but we went ahead with the cycle (as egg collection was due only a couple of days after we got the sperm comet results) and on Dr Ramsay's advice we did IMSI instead of ICSI. With IMSI they use a stronger microscope (6000x) to look at the sperm which may help select less fragmented sperm. Just to be clear though DNA fragmentation cannot be seen through a microscope and IMSI has not been proven to be more successful than ICSI. We still went for it though and we were successful this time. I am 7 weeks pregnant at the moment. We are not out of the woods yet as high dna fragmentation increases the risk of miscarriage but i just wanted to share my story and offer some advice as i spent a lot of time researching DNA fragmentation. 

If you don't mind me asking how old are you and your wife? The reason i am asking is that i have been told that young eggs can repair sperm dna damage. In any case i would suggest that you do ICSI instead of normal IVF. This is definitely better for sperm with DnA fragmentation (we had 100% fertilisation on our 1st cycle and 83% on our 2nd). You can ask dr Ramsay about IMSI but i suspect that he will advise against it in your case given that it is your first cycle and there is no research proving that its worth the extra £ (almost 500 at the Lister). If you have any more questions let me know! Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Justjen

You guys rock. We currently at the lister right now after a week of the nasal spray and after reading all your posts  I feel so much more confident. 
Just wanted to wish Ellie all the luck in the world. 
To answer your question I'm 35 and my Mrs 33. 
I really hope the DNA is repaired during the process and we have a successful cycle. 
Otherwise it will be heartache and sadness and the search for a new clinic (only because of affordability).


----------



## Justjen

At our consult with the nurse today hey confirmed we doing imsi which I guess is a positive in a way.


----------

