IVF Czech Republic s.r.o.

Intracytoplasmatic sperm injection (ICSI)

In 1992 the news about first pregnancies achieved following an injection of one single sperm cell through the cover (zona pellucida) into the oocyte came as a real revolution in  infertility. This method helped countless couples whose situation was such that zhey had no choice but to use donor sperm.

The method called Intracytoplasmatic sperm injection (ICSI) is a demanding micromanipulation technique during which a sperm cell is sucked into a very thin and sharp glass capillary.This is then inserted trough the cover of the ovum and a sperm cell is injected from this capillary into the oocyte (sperm injection).

Indications for ICSI are the incapability of sperm to fertilize an ovum spontaneously (low number, bad motility), immunological infertility causes, failed fertilization in standard IVF method, repeat unsuccessful attempts of artificial fertilization, older age, a low number of gained oocytes, use of cryopreserved spermatozoa, use of donor ova etc. This method of fertilization is very successful. The woman must of course undergo the usual superovulation procedure and oocyte retrieval and her partner must provide a sperm sample. On the basis of contemporary knowledge ,we can state that oocyte fertilization by means of sperm gained in this way does not increase the risk of birth of a child with inborn development defects in comparison with pregnancies after spontanous fertilization (2.3%).