Unravelling the Mysteries of ICSI: What Patients Really Need to Know
Written by Ram Prakash, Clinical Embryologist Couples walking into an ICSI clinic for the first time are usually told it is a more advanced form of IVF. That is technically true and clinically almost useless. ICSI, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, is a particular laboratory technique with its own mechanism, its own indications, and outcomes that differ from conventional IVF insemination in ways worth knowing about. What follows is what the science actually supports. What Is ICSI and How Does It Differ From Conventional IVF? Conventional insemination puts thousands of sperm around each egg in a culture dish and lets fertilisation happen on its own terms. The sperm has to find the egg, bind to it, and get through it unaided. ICSI takes that entirely out of the sperm's hands. I select one sperm under high magnification and inject it straight into the cytoplasm of a mature egg, using a glass needle finer than a human hair. Feature Conventional IVF ICSI Fertilisation method Sperm-eg...