Assisted Reproduction
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ICSI
What is ICSI?
With In Vitro Fertilisation treatments insemination of eggs can be achieved by conventional techniques or by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI).
In what cases is ICSI used?
This technique is often used in cases of severe male factor infertility (the sperm of the man is poor quality), previous fertilisation failure with IVF, failure of previous treatments for Artificial Insemination or situations where there are a limited number of eggs.
Procedure
The procedure is similar to IVF, but in this case, the eggs must be released from the cells around them to determine their maturity, as only some are suitable for microinjection. Using a microscope, a single sperm is taken using a microinjection pipette and it is placed directly inside the egg. With the help of a microinjection, a single sperm is inserted into the egg to achieve fertilisation, imitating the natural process of fertilisation of an egg by a sperm.
Results
Success rates of IVF / ICSI have increased considerably in recent years due to technological and scientific advances, which has increased pregnancy rates in patients. Embryo transfers can be performed in approximately 95-98% of the cycles, and the pregnancy rate per embryo transfer is between 27% and 35%. When cycles of treatment are repeated, after approximately four treatments, the cumulative pregnancy rate may reach 60%.
