Micro-manipulation: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)

The laboratory-based injection of sperm into an egg under a microscope

ICSI is breakthrough infertility treatment, especially for couples in which the man has a sperm disorder that prevents natural insemination. These disorders can include:

• Low sperm count
• Abnormal sperm shape or structure (morphology)
• Poor sperm motility (movement)

At Assuta, ICSI offers effective fertility treatments to compensate for these conditions, a sign of optimism for couples and individuals wanting to conceive.

How is the procedure performed?

The micro-manipulation process features several stages, each of which is essential to the chances of success in fertilization and achieving pregnancy.

• The fertility specialist extracts one or more eggs from the woman’s ovaries, and places each high-quality egg in a laboratory dish.
  
  
• The man provides sperm samples. This is done through ejaculation, or the sperm is extracted directly from the testicles.
  
  
• The fertility specialist evaluates and carefully selects a high-quality sperm (with normal shape and structure) from the sperm samples.
  
  
• To fertilize each egg, the specialist injects the sperm directly into the egg in the laboratory dish. The sperm injection process uses special dedicated microscopic instruments.
  
  
• One fertilization has taken place, the laboratory dish with the embryo is placed in an incubator for optimal fertilization conditions.
  
  
• Once the embryo has reached a specific size, the woman’s uterus is prepared to receive the embryo. The embryo is implanted in the woman’s uterus to grow into a fetus.
  
  

The ICSI procedure is performed at Assuta’s state-of-the-art Fertility Lab by a skilled team of professionals.