What is ICSI?
Itstands for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. This method is used to fertilize eggs that have been taken out of a woman’s ovary in the laboratory environment. It is especially helpful in those cases where men have significant infertility. This method has helped millions of couples to enjoy
Who are the right candidates for intracytoplasmic sperm injection?
Even though it has not been defined who should go for this procedure, but some fertility clinics recommend it to couples where the male partner has severe male factor infertility and some do it for every case in hand. In the present times, doctors are doing this procedure on more couples than they used to do 10-12 years ago.
Specific reasons for use of ICSI
- Couples with severe male factor infertility and do not want to use donor sperm to conceive.
- Where the concentration of sperms per millimeter is less than 15-20 million.
- Where the sperm motility is very low – less than 35%
- Very poor sperm morphology. However, the specific cut off value is not determined.
- Where the couple has not had successful fertilization with IVF, or the rate of fertilization is much low. The percentage of mature eggs that were fertilized normally was very low.
- When there is low yield of eggs when eggs are recovered. It is implemented to get a higher percentage of eggs fertilizes than is possible with conventional methods of insemination.
Success Rates for Fertilization and pregnancy with ICSI
- The success rate of fertilization with this method is 70- 85%. This is referred to as fertilization rate and may or may not translate into successful pregnancy.
- Studies have shown that the success rate achieved through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) using intra cytoplasmic sperm injection is higher than the IVF without sans this procedure. The reason attributed to high rate is the high fertility of females opting for the procedure who are capable of producing higher number of good quality eggs in comparison to the women going for IVF.
- If the quantity and quality of eggs is not of the desired level, the chance of success of IVF is reduced. ICSI injection fertilization and consequent successful pregnancy is always on the lower side in such situations.
Apart from this, factors like the intra cytoplasmic sperm injection technique adopted, skill and experience of the doctor performing the procedure, laboratory quality, quality and quantity of eggs, and the infertility specialist’s embryo transfer skills play a big role in the success of IVF with intra cytoplasmic sperm injection.
