What is ICSI?
IVF (Intracytoplasmic Fertilization and Sterilization) is a highly sophisticated reproductive method that takes place in an embryology lab during an IVF treatment and involves the injection of one sperm directly into a woman’s egg to produce one fertilized embryo. ICSI IVF is one of two types of fertilization procedures that may be utilized during IVF, the other being Conventional IVF Fertilization.
Procedure
An embryologist uses ICSI to choose and use the sperm that seems to be the most compatible match for the egg, which is then directly injected into the egg. Sperm are picked based on their morphology (shape) and passage through the egg (forward movement). The sperm are then extracted from the sperm-drop and placed onto a microtool known as an ICSI needle for further processing.
The embryologist transfers the sperm from the ICSI needle to a media drop holding the eggs after it has been placed in the needle. The embryologist may carefully hold the egg in the correct injection position with the use of a micro tool known as a holding pipette. The holding pipette exerts a little suction on the egg, enabling the embryologist to precisely position the egg for injection.
When the embryologist is ready, he or she will bring the ICSI needle containing the sperm down to the other media drop and align it with the egg. It is necessary to carefully put the ICSI needle into the side of the egg underneath the polar body. When the egg is perforated, it is sucked into the needle and gently mixed with a little quantity of ooplasm before the sperm is inserted into the egg.
The sperm is introduced into the egg after the zona pellucida and oolemma have been perforated. Based on how many eggs were collected during that cycle, embryologists would often mix numerous combinations of egg and sperm to create a single embryo.
Who Needs It?
ICSI may be the best option if male factor infertility is an issue (which is normally detected by a semen study). ICSI is a procedure that efficiently removes male infertility by introducing sperm cells directly into the egg during the fertilization process. Sperm count, motility, and morphology are all important factors in male fertility, and they are all required for sperm to properly encounter and penetrate an egg during a natural conception procedure.
ICSI eliminates the uncertainty of whether a few vigorous, healthy sperm make the risky trek from the man’s epididymis to the vagina, cervix, uterus, and fallopian tubes to finally locate the egg; it ensures that they do. ICSI may also be an excellent alternative to an irreversible vasectomy or for men who are paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury.
It is not just male factor infertility that leads to the decision to use ICSI. In addition to these causes, your reproductive endocrinologist may propose ICSI for the following:
- If prior IVF rounds resulted in a low number of fertilized eggs or none at all
- It is possible to become pregnant with frozen sperm and thawed sperm if the frozen sperm is inactive
- Use frozen eggs only if you are certain you will be able to successfully fertilize them since the process of vitrification may harden the egg’s outer shell
- It is typically suggested to utilize ICSI while doing Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) since the presence of extra sperm near the embryo might affect the findings
- Simply to increase the likelihood of fertilization
Conclusion
ICSI is a delicate procedure that should only be performed by qualified embryologists in a very contemporary and high-tech laboratory environment. One of the benefits of the ICSI procedure is that it only takes one sperm per egg and may be used on patients who are experiencing male infertility. As far as the patients are concerned, ICSI is no different from normal in vitro fertilization.
