Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)
What is Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)?
For around half of the couples struggling to get pregnant, the problem lies with male fertility. ICSI is currently the best male infertility treatment. ICSI is very similar to IVF. The difference mainly lies with the process of fertilization. In IVF, eggs and sperm are put together in a dish and fertilize ‘naturally’. However, this requires a large amount of sperm to be present.
Advantages of ICSI
Best for male factor infertility
Maximize the rate of fertilization
Broadly used technique
Who is recommended to have ICSI?
ICSI fertility treatment is favored when medical practitioners suspect that there is a reason why achieving fertilization due to other procedures might be difficult. Fertility treatment success rate for IVF is high when the problem is with male fertility. Male infertility factors generally include low sperm count, poor motility, poor sperm quality or when the sperm lacks the ability to penetrate the egg. Absence of sperm in the semen due to some kind of blockage can also be treated with the ICSI.
- Immunological infertility factors
- Less number of retrieved eggs
- Fertilization failure during previous IVF cycle
- Repeated miscarriages during previous cycle
- Age over 35 years
- Endometriosis, PCOS or any other problem
- Unfavorable embryo development in previous cycles
The ICSI process:
Stimulation and Egg Collection.
The ovaries are stimulated to promote growth of follicles with the help of medication. After 8-12 days, an injection (trigger) helps with final maturation of egg. And after 34-36 hours, your eggs are surgically extracted from your ovaries. Egg retrieval is done under ultrasound guidance and mild sedation.
Sperm Selection.
On the day of the egg collection, a sperm sample is taken from your partner’s semen or surgically extracted from his testes or epididymis. The sperm is then analysed and processed by an embryologist in the ART lab. The motile sperm is selected for insemination.
Fertilization
Each and every mature egg is given a single sperm. Using a tiny hollow needle, one sperm is injected into a mature egg. Once the process is done, the egg is cultured in an incubator and checked for fertilization after 16-18 hours. The embryo is then cultured in the embryological laboratory for 3-5 days.
Embryo Transfer
The embryo is carefully evaluated in the laboratory. The finest of the embryos are selected and transferred on the preferable dates.
Post Transfer Process
You will be given some medicines to help the embryo implant. Pregnancy tests are scheduled 14 days after embryo transfer.