ICSI

ICSI Treatment (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection)

ICSI is a technique in which a single sperm is directly injected into an egg to fertilise it and then the fertilised egg (embryo) is transferred to womb. It is one the most cost-effective and successful treatment for infertile men. This method is especially salutary for men who have low or zero sperm count. In case of zero sperm count or when the male partner is too uptight to ejaculate on the day of egg collection for IVF, the sperm is extracted either from testicles (using TESA) or epididymis (using PESA). Even if men have dysfunctional sperm which can’t fuse with the egg, ICSI comes in handy.A sharp and delicate needle is used to immobilise & pick up a sperm and it is injected into the cytoplasm of the egg, after which the needle is removed.

The success rate of ICSI is significantly higher than IVF and the couples often opt for ICSI when the conventional IVF technique does not produce desired results for them. The success rate of ICSI is directly proportional to the age: the younger the patient is; the higher are the chances of success.

Steps Involved in ICSI

• Women is stimulated for follicle production and egg recovery as in IVF.
• Single sperm is selected from the semen or directly from the testis/epididymis by TESA/PESA
• This single sperm is injected into cytoplasm of egg and are left for fertilization in an incubator as in IVF
• iv.Transfer of embryo to the uterus occurs in the same routine manner as that for IVF. ICSI can be used for all types of sperm problems-even those with extreme condition