The Fertility Guide: The ART Procedures

ICSI is the most recent advance in ART procedures. It is a micromanipulation procedure in which a single sperm is injected into an egg. Prior to ICSI, there were many couples who did not have adequate sperm samples to achieve fertilization even under the most ideal laboratory conditions. ICSI has changed that! ICSI enables couples with only a few sperm (literally) to achieve successful pregnancies. If there are any sperm at all, ICSI is an option.

ICSI is done under a microscope using very carefully constructed micro instruments, known as pipettes. Using one instrument, a single sperm is picked up. A second pipette is used to immobilize the egg while the first one containing the sperm is used to penetrate the egg. The sperm is then injected directly into the egg. This procedure is repeated for each egg. Following sperm injection, culture continues and a zygote or embryo transfer is performed at the appropriate time.