What is Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (What is ICSI)?

 The head of a man's sperm must connect to the exterior of the egg before it may fertilize a woman's egg. Once joined, the sperm makes its way through the egg's outer layer to the cytoplasm, where fertilization occurs.
For a number of reasons, sperm may be unable to enter the outer layer. The sperm may be unable to swim or the egg's outer layer may be thick or difficult to penetrate. In some circumstances, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) can be used in conjunction with in vitro fertilization (IVF) to aid in the fertilization of the egg. A single sperm is injected directly into the cytoplasm of the egg during ICSI.

What is ICSI and How Does It Work?

IVF may be used to fertilize an egg in two ways: conventional and ICSI. 50,000 or more swimming sperm are put near to the egg in a laboratory dish in classical IVF. When one of the sperm penetrates the cytoplasm of the egg, it fertilizes it. A small needle called a micropipette is used to inject a single sperm into the center of the egg during the ICSI procedure. After fertilization, the fertilized egg (now termed an embryo) matures in a laboratory for 1 to 5 days before being transferred to the woman's uterus, whether via standard IVF or ICSI (womb).

Why Would I Need ICSI?

ICSI aids in the treatment of infertility issues such as:

• Artificial insemination (intrauterine insemination [IUI]) or IVF are not possible since the male spouse generates insufficient sperm.
• It's possible that the sperm won't migrate normally.
• It's possible that the sperm will have problems adhering to the egg.
• Sperm may not be able to leave the male reproductive canal due to a blockage.
• Traditional IVF has failed to fertilize eggs, regardless of sperm quality.
• Eggs that have been developed in vitro are being used.
• Eggs that had previously been frozen are being utilized.

Is ICSI a Viable Option?

50% to 80% of eggs are fertilized using ICSI. However, the following issues may arise during or after the ICSI procedure:

It's possible that some or all of the eggs will be harmed.

Even after being injected with sperm, the egg may not develop into an embryo.

It's possible that the embryo will cease developing.

After fertilization, a couple's chances of having a single child, twins, or triplets are the same whether they do IVF with or without ICSI.

Can ICSI Affect a Baby’s Development?

If a woman becomes pregnant naturally, her kid has a 1.5 percent to 3% risk of having a serious birth problem. ICSI has a same risk of birth abnormalities as IVF, however it is somewhat greater than spontaneous conception.

The slightly increased risk of birth abnormalities may be attributed to the infertility itself, rather than the procedures employed to overcome it.

ICSI has been linked to Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, Angelman syndrome, hypospadias, and sex chromosomal abnormalities, among other diseases. They are estimated to occur in less than 1% of children born using this method.

Infertility can be caused by a variety of factors, some of which are inherited. Male infants created through ICSI, for example, may have the same infertility challenges as their dads.

In IVF treatment, the microinjection stage is important.

Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection, or ICSI in English, is another name for this procedure. In 1992, this procedure was initially used to allow men with major sperm abnormalities to conceive children.

The micro-injection approach has ushered in a new age for guys who previously had a very low or no chance of becoming pregnant with traditional IVF.

Previously, men with sperm counts of less than 5 million/mL or sperm of poor quality had little or no chance of conceiving. Thousands of infants were born as a result of microinjection use after 1992.

Patients undergoing ICSI and those undergoing conventional IVF go through the same phases.

In terms of the medications used by the patient, ultrasound monitoring, egg collection, and transfer procedures, traditional IVF and ICSI applications are identical.

In contrast to ICSI, merging eggs and spermatozoa in the laboratory is done using a different approach. Each egg is mixed with around 100,000 sperm in traditional IVF, but one of them spontaneously penetrates the egg's outer membrane and fertilizes it. In Micro-Injection or ICSI, on the other hand, a specified single sperm cell is injected into each egg using a needle. A device known as a micromanupilator is used in the ICSI procedure.

Who Does Micro-Injection Help?

Those suffering from sperm count, motility, or morphological issues: If the sperm count is less than 5 million/mL, ICSI should be used instead of traditional IVF.

Men who have no sperm in their sperm analysis are said to have azoospermia. PESA/MESA/TESE/TESA or Mikrotese procedures are used to extract sperm straight from the testis or epididymis. The mature sperm (spermatozoa) collected in this technique can be utilized for ICSI in even small numbers.

Couples who haven't been able to conceive using the traditional IVF process (total fertilization failure).

Couples whose embryos will be genetically tested prior to implantation.

To improve the chances of pregnancy in a small number of patients (couples with less chance).

In many institutions, ICSI is now routinely performed on all patients undergoing IVF.

Will Every Single One of Our Eggs Be Injected?

If you choose ICSI, we will do all we can to implant as many eggs as feasible. It is critical that you understand that only developed eggs may be injected with sperm. Our IVF lab can quickly determine if an egg is mature or immature. Despite the fact that the immature eggs are nurtured with sperm, the chances of fertilization are slim. We are able to implant 75 to 80 percent of the eggs that are collected on average.

Is There a Difference in the Quality of ICSI and non-ICSI Embryos, or in the Pregnancy Rates?

When ICSI embryos are compared to non-ICSI embryos, there appears to be no difference in overall embryo quality. Similarly, there was no difference in pregnancy rates between ICSI and non-ICSI embryos. Despite the lack of evidence, many infertility doctors believe that ICSI can enhance the number of embryos produced from a given number of eggs retrieved, which has contributed to the rise in ICSI operations.