Microinjection Stage in IVF Treatment
This method is also called Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection or ICSI in English. This method, which allows men with serious sperm disorders to have children, was first applied in 1992.
Micro-injection method has opened a new era for men who previously had a very low or impossible chance of pregnancy with conventional IVF.
In the past, men having sperm counts below 5 million/mL on semen analysis or with very poor sperm quality had little or no chance of conceiving. After 1992, thousands of babies were born as a result of microinjection application.
Patients who will undergo ICSI and patients who will undergo conventional IVF go through the same stages.
Conventional IVF and ICSI applications are the same in terms of drugs used by the patient, ultrasound monitoring, egg collection and transfer procedures.
Unlike in ICSI, union of eggs with spermatozoa at the laboratory stage is carried out with a different technique. In conventional IVF, each egg is united with approximately 100,000 sperm, but one of them spontaneously penetrates the outer membrane of the egg and fertilizes it. On the other hand, in Micro-Injection or ICSI, a previously determined single sperm cell is injected into each egg with the help of a needle. The ICSI procedure is performed with a device called a micromanipulator.
To Whom Is Micro-Injection Applied?
For those with advanced sperm count, motility and morphology disorders: ICSI should be performed instead of conventional IVF in those with sperm count below 5 million/mL.
Men with azoospermia, in other words, men who have no sperm in the sperm analysis: Sperm are obtained directly from the testis or epididymis by PESA/MESA/TESE/TESA or Microtese methods. Although in very few numbers, mature sperms (spermatozoa) obtained in this way can be used for ICSI.
Couples who have not previously been fertilized with the conventional IVF method (total fertilization failure).
Couples whose embryos will undergo pre-implantation genetic diagnosis.
To increase the chance of pregnancy in some selected patients (couples with less chance).
Today, ICSI is routinely performed on all patients undergoing IVF in many centers.
