Do I really need ICSI in my IVF cycle?

Did you know that in some clinics, over 70% of IVF cycles involve the use of ICSI?
 
The majority of women and couples attending Ballarat IVF and South West Fertility are able to achieve a pregnancy without having IVF.  A detailed discussion with your fertility specialist looking for common contributors to infertility is the first step.  Offering sensible and effective treatment for conditions, such as ovulation problems, PCOS, and endometriosis often leads to the birth of a healthy baby with very little fuss, or expense.
 
However, when ICSI is required, Ballarat IVF and South West Fertility have five IVF scientists who are experts in performing ICSI, and we have State of the Art equipment which is available for use every day.
 
Our scientists use ICSI in about 50% of treatment cycles. Some other clinics have ICSI rates of more than 70%.
 
The typical situation requiring ICSI is one where the male partner has a very low sperm count, or where sperm is retrieved from a man who has had a previous vasectomy.  In these situations, the likelihood of an egg fertilizing, if combined with sperm without ICSI is very low.
 
Other situations where ICSI can be needed is when, despite all investigations, there is no obvious cause for not achieving a pregnancy.  This is called idiopathic infertility.  In some of these couples, the cause is a sperm binding problem.  That is, that the egg and sperm don’t join properly to allow fertilization.  There is no way to test for this problem.
 
If a couple, with idiopathic infertility, require IVF, we often will use ICSI on half of the eggs, and perform normal IVF on the other half.  This step provides an “insurance policy” in case there is an underlying sperm binding problem.  If we didn’t do ICSI on some of the eggs, we could all be very disappointed the day after egg collection if none of the eggs had fertilized with normal IVF.
 
At Ballarat IVF and South West Fertility, about 50% of our couples having IVF require ICSI.  We try to keep the rate of ICSI as low as possible, without risking having poor egg fertilization results for our couples.
 
If you have questions as to whether you really need ICSI in your IVF cycle, feel free to contact Ballarat IVF or South West Fertility.

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