The impact of COVID-19 on oocytes
Medical Review (Med. pregled), 2025, 61(2), 38-44.
M. Feradova1, R. Stefanov2
1 “Doverie“ Medical Center
2 Institute of Reproductive Biology and Immunology „Acad. Kiril Bratanov“, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Abstract. According to data from the WHO, the National Center for Fertility and Reproductive Medicine and various scientific publications, the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, and more and more questions are being raised about the female reproductive system, especially fertility problems. Our study discusses the possible connection between COVID-19 and women’s reproductive health and highlights the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on hormones, the endometrium and menstrual cycle, ovarian reserve, follicular fluid, oocytes and embryos. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine whether there is a connection after a previous COVID-19 infection and how it reflects on reproduction and sterility. Materials and methods: 18 patients, randomly selected, admitted for in vitro treatment, who had COVID-19, were studied. The age range is from 27 years old to 41 years old, and the study period is 1 year. Applied methods: ICSI (intracytoplasmic injection), IMSI (intracytoplasmic, morphologically selected injection). Results: From the studied patients who had been infected with COVID-19, different results were found: a significantly lower number of extracted and mature eggs. The data from the captured photographic material show a lower quality of the oocytes. Infertile eggs with multiple defects are observed. We are talking about immaturity of the oocytes, degenerative oocytes, mostly hollow.
Key words: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, embryo, reproduction, sterility, Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, Intracytoplasmic morphological injection