Understanding ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) & Egg Fertilisation

[00:00:00]There's two different ways to fertilize eggs.

[00:00:03]Um the first is IVF and that basically um is just when they mix the sperm and the eggs together in a dish, but the sperm still has to fertilize the eggs themselves.

[00:00:16]Um and we do that when we've not got any concerns about the sperm whatsoever.

[00:00:21]Um if we do have some concerns about the sperms, if the concentration slightly reduced or the motility or the morphologies um poor, then we would recommend something called ICSI to fertilize the eggs. Um ICSI stands for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Um so it's a bit of a mouthful.

[00:00:42]Um and what that means is um that's when the embryologist will look at the sperm under the microscope. Um and they'll pick an individual sperm that looks good. And then they will physically inject one sperm into each egg. And and that's the difference really. Um so it's it guarantees fertilization.

[00:01:04]Um but then once the eggs are fertilized, it doesn't matter whether they've been fertilized with IVF or ICSI. They then go on to develop in the same way. So the most common time that we use ICSI is if we've got concerns about the um semen analysis. We also use ICSI if we're using frozen eggs. Um they will only fertilize with ICSI irrespective of how good the sperm quality is. Um and if someone's had previous treatment, but the fertilization rates have been suboptimal, then we'd recommend ICSI in the next cycle.