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Icsi Procedure
ICSI procedure is a special technique used to fertilize eggs for those couples suffering from severe male factor infertility. ICSI is an acronym for Intracytoplasmic sperm injection. This method enhances the pregnancy and fertilization rates and increasing chances of conceiving children. It usually works as one of the last resorts for those couples that have had high failure rates in the past in trying to conceive.What is male factor or male factor infertility? Male factor infertility is defined as an extreme case of infertility only with males. Usually it is a big myth in the world of infertility that infertility is due to problems in women. However according to latest This procedure prevails over the natural hindrances of conveying giving hopes to the expecting mother and the couple in achieving fertilization and off course pregnancy. The ICSI procedure was first used at San Francisco Bay Area in 1994 with the first ever successful pregnancy taking place the very next year. Since then the method had been winning hearts amongst the most struggling couples trying to conceive and achieve pregnancy. It is usually conducted in a controlled IVF laboratory environment with female eggs and male sperms. How does it work? The IVF ICSI works by selecting live human sperm using microscopic tools & equipment & inverted microscopes enabling embryologists and doctors in selecting, picking and injecting it directly into the female’s egg leading to fertilization by using specially designed ICSI needle. This process is carefully conducted only by embryologists that are quite adept in their fields. Before moving on, it is required by females to develop a high level of mature eggs for fertilization process by ovary stimulation that usually results by taking fertility medications. When developed, these eggs are taken out from the vagina by injection pipette and stored in controlled IVF laboratory condition. The human sperms are then collected on the other side. In order to separate dead and abnormal sperms from live sperms, the semen sample gets prepared by centrifugation. When separated, the embryologist then selects a healthy live sperm in a glass needle for sperm injection. Before injection could take place, the mature eggs derived from females are carefully monitored under microscope for their quality and put in incubator for 4 to 6 hours. It is important to make sure that the eggs are mature. ICSI cannot be performed over immature eggs. Possible freezing of additional eggs could be required as deemed appropriate by the embryologist. Throughout this process extreme caution and care has to be taken because it is quite a sensitive process. Even the slightest of mistake could lead to failure. The ICSI needle (containing live human sperm) with extreme caution is inserted into the outer shell of the embryo & the egg membrane and the sperm gets injected into the inner part of the egg. The eggs are then left to be examined after 24 hours of fertilization to see if they get divided into different parts to be put back to the uterus. With those males having abnormal semen analysis, it is considered as an absolute must. However, the situation does vary from patient to patient and clinic to clinic. Some clinics opt for IVF ICSI on every case whereas others use it on extreme male factor infertility cases only. However ICSI is perhaps the leading solution using IVF procedures for conception. Around 70% to 80% of the cases now use ICSI procedure to start conceiving. The success factor is quite high using ICSI procedure. Normally 80% of the cases dealt with ICSI are achieving successful pregnancy. On an average, every 8 eggs out of 10 result in successful fertilization. However there are many factors that count for the successful pregnancy rate using ICSI procedure. The quality of laboratory, skills of the qualified embryologist, professionalism in methodology, quality of mature eggs, and the embryo transfer skills of the specialist all account when it comes to successful pregnancy. There are some common reasons that amount towards the rising trend in using ICSI procedure: 1. Male factor infertility problems – those couples that do not want sperm injection using sperm donor technique. 2. Low sperm count – Couples with lower sperm count that is less than 35 million sperms per millimeter of semen. 3. Sperm abnormality – High rate of sperm abnormality is another reason for using ICSI procedure. 4. Previous poor fertilization using IVF procedure – Couples going through previous IVF procedure for fertilization that did not achieve successful pregnancy usually opt for the ICSI procedure. There have been safety concerns regarding the use of ICSI procedure due to the fact that the risk of transferring abnormal sperm for fertilization could also take place. It is therefore advised by the doctors & embryologists to take special care of their children born with the ICSI procedure throughout their life and report any changes to the health specialists. | |
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Please note that all advice on this website is just our opinion and it should not be considered medical fact.
For further reading on the subject of Infertility we absolutely recommend that you visit www.nlm.nih.gov