Intra cytoplasmic sperm injection

ICSI is the injection of a single sperm directly into an egg using a special needle and a micromanipulator. It is recommended in cases of severe male infertility and where there has been cases of no fertilization following IVF previously. Couples prepare for ICSI in the same way as for standard IVF, i.e. by ovarian stimulation and egg collection. A single motile morphologically normal sperm (if available) is carefully identified, collected using a tiny pipette and carefully injected directly into the cytoplasm of each mature egg. The fertilised embryos are allowed to develop as for standard IVF prior to transfer (cultured to the blastocyst stage of embryonic development).