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Icsi Treatment
ICSI treatment is one of the most revolutionary treatments offering hope to
couples with severe male-factor infertility. Short for intracytoplasmic sperm injection, this fertility
treatment is often used as part of in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The first baby conceived using this technique was born in 1992. It basically
involves making a sperm injection directly into an egg in order to create an embryo. The diagnosis and
treatment of infertility is a very complex subject because there are too many things that can go wrong. Doctors
have to study the exact cause of the problem so that they can offer the correct treatment.
A successful fertility clinic
Regular IVF occurs when eggs and sperms are placed in a culture medium in the ration of 1: 75,000. This usually offers success but there are certain circumstances under which this method will not work. It is then that doctors step in to help the process along with techniques such as cytoplasmic sperm injection because this ensures that the sperm does meet the egg. The doctor offering ICSI treatment will have to select the best possible sperm from the sample, based upon its size, shape and motility. The sperm has to be picked up with a very fine tube after it is made non-motile. It then has to be injected into the cytoplasm of the egg with the greatest of care so that fertilization occurs and an embryo is created. However, it should be warned here that successfully injecting the sperm into the egg does not necessarily mean that fertilization will occur. Even if it does, there is no guarantee that the embryo will grow in the desired manner. ICSI treatment is offered as a solution to a variety of problems that couples could face. There are many different varieties and causes of male infertility and they can all have devastating effects on a man’s psyche and also on the state of the relationship. There are many men who suffer from extremely low sperm count. This condition is known as oligospermia and it is very difficult for a fertilization to take place in this instance.
Another common problem is poor sperm movement. This condition is also called
asthenozoospermia and has a devastating effect on a couple. Sperm need to be able to swim to the egg and
penetrate its outer layer in order to fertilize it. However, sperm cells that have very low motility are unable
to find the egg. Attempting fertilization with these kinds of sperm will always have negative results. Couples
are doomed to failure unless they can find a way of getting the sperm directly to the egg.
Many men also produce sperm that have an irregular shape and which cannot help them fertilize their partner’s eggs. Another problem that can be bypassed thanks to ICSI treatment is when the man produces sperm in good quantity but it somehow cannot make its way to his semen. In this instance, the sperm can be extracted from the testes or the epidydimis and then injected into the egg in order to fertilize it.
Many couples are very particular to have a child which is biologically theirs and
they naturally do not like the idea of using a sperm donor. In these cases they will opt for ICSI treatment because all it takes is for the lab technician to isolate a single
sperm from the male and use it to fertilize his partner’s egg.
ICSI success rates are considerably high, with reports stating that 50 to 80 percent of cases resulting in successful fertilization. From there on the success rate of a couple who opts for ICSI treatment along with IVF is exactly the same as couples who go in for only IVF. However, the success rates of this treatment are increasing as increasing numbers of clinics are getting expertise at fine tuning the treatment. In fact, many fertility clinics are reporting that the success rates for ICSI treatment are overtaking that of conventional IVF methods. The success rate of this method is best when the woman is below the age of 35, and this is common to all fertility treatments. There are believed to be certain drawbacks to using ICSI treatment but they are not yet understood fully. It is believed that there is a slightly higher chance of conceiving a baby with birth defects. Male children in particular who are conceived by this method have a chance of having fertility problems later on. It is believed that the reason for this is that male infertility is an inherited trait.
Doctors should also focus on thromboembolism diagnosis and treatment because this
is a common problem associated with most assisted reproductive technology. All drawbacks apart, couples are
willing to spend money on this treatment just so that they can have their own biological childen.
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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