WHAT is ICSI ?

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is an assisted approach to help childless couples to cope with severe male infertility issues and to achieve pregnancy and most commonly  is carried out as a supplementary part of  IVF(In vitro fertilization). As a rule, the only one sperm is required for sperm injection.The embryologist selects the fastest and the most right-shaped sperm, picks it  up , hits and immobilize it by microneedle and injects straight into the egg.In several days the embryo is transferred into woman’s uterus. The whole process takes place in a laboratory since special equipment such as :inverted microscope, micromanipulatorsm, microinjectors, is an integral part of the procedure along with skilfull and experienced embryologists.

Despite that the insemination method seems to be quite unnatural, the embryos, that were created due to intracytoplasmic sperm injection do not differ from ordinary embryos. And children, who were born afterwards owing to ICSI and in vitro treatment, have equal mental and physical abilities as non-in vitro babies.

The main advantage of intracytoplasmic sperm injection is that it can solve the problem of unexplained male and female infertility, when the causes of it are unknown and undefined.Nowadays, unfortunately,  there are more and more such cases in the world and  families have to seek the medical support to conceive a baby.It is expected, that in 2017 there will be more ICSI requests compared with previous years, taking into account disappointing medical statistics.

The leading reason why couples have  to use intracytoplasmic sperm injection are serious male fertility disorders as:

1. Low sperm count;
2. Abnormal sperm morphology, bad motility;
3. Low sperm production or no production owing to genetic disease or other illnesses;
4. Issues with erection and ejuculating
5. High antibodies level in the semen

In addition there can be other reasons why ICSI is preferable:

1. The frozen sperm cannot be used because of low quality;
2. Intended parents would like to examine the embryo to detect possible risks of genetic disorders.

In spite of numerous benefits of the  ICSI infertility treatment , there is usually certain risk involved. First of all, it is multiple pregnancy that can have potential hazard both for a woman and children since multiple gestation may lead to premature birth and just like at the time of any impregnation there is the risk of ectopic pregnancy development.  Also, there is always a possibility that inseminated egg won’t turn into a healthy embryo. Additionally,the children who were conceived due to intracytoplasmic sperm injection tent to be born more often with infantile cerebral paralysis than those children, who were conceived owing to in vitro.It is probable as well,  that the baby will inherit male infertility. And last but not least, the ICSI is more expensive than in vitro fertilization treatment.