What is the Full Form of ICSI

ICSI: Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

ICSI is an abbreviation for Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection. The cytoplasm is a phenomenon that says that before a man's sperm can fertilize a woman's egg, the head of the sperm must attach to the outside of the egg. Once attached, the sperm pushes through the outer layer to the inside of the egg (cytoplasm), where fertilization takes place.

There exists a variety of reasons why sperm cannot penetrate the outer layer:

• Maybe the outer layer of the egg may be thick or hard to penetrate.
• The sperm may not be able to swim.

In cases like these, a procedure called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) can be done along with the In Vitro fertilization (IVF) to help fertilize the egg. During ICSI, a single sperm is injected directly into the cytoplasm of the egg.

How does Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection work?

Generally, there are two ways that an egg may be fertilized by IVF: the traditional method and ICSI. Fifty Thousand or more swimming sperm are placed next to the egg in a laboratory dish in traditional IVF. Fertilization takes place when one of the sperm enters the cytoplasm of the egg. Whereas in the ICSI process, a tiny needle called a micropipette, is used to inject a single sperm into the center of the egg. With either traditional IVF or ICSI, once fertilization occurs, the fertilized egg (now called an embryo) grows in a laboratory for 1 to 5 days before it is transferred to the woman's uterus (womb).

When does a person need ICSI?

The fertility problems could be overcome with the help of ICSI, such as:

• Too few sperm are produced by the male partner to do artificial insemination (intrauterine insemination [IUI]) or IVF.
• The sperm may not move in a normal fashion or more unusual than the usual way.
• The sperm may have trouble attaching to the egg, due to the thickness of the outer layer of the egg.
• A blockage in the male reproductive tract may keep sperm from getting out.
• Maybe the traditional IVF method has not worked and eggs have not been fertilized, regardless of the condition of the sperm.
• In vitro fertilization matured eggs are being used.
• Previously frozen eggs are being used.

Will Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection work?

ICSI fertilizes 50 % to 80 % of the eggs. But the following problems may occur during or after the ICSI process:

• Some or all of the eggs may be damaged.
• The egg might not grow into an embryo even after it is injected with sperm.
• The embryo may stop growing.

After fertilization has taken place, a couple's chance of giving birth to a single baby, twins, or triplets is the same if they have IVF with or without ICSI.

Is baby's development affected by ICSI?

There is only a 1.5 percent to 3 percent chance that the baby will have a major birth defect if a woman gets pregnant naturally. ICSI and IVF both have a similar chance of having birth defects, but slightly higher than in natural conception. The slightly higher risk of birth defects may actually be due to infertility and not the treatments used to overcome infertility. Certain conditions have been associated with the use of ICS, such as Beckwith- Wiedemann syndrome, Angelman Syndrome, hypospadias, or sex chromosome abnormalities. They are thought to occur in far less than 1 percent of children conceived using this technique. Some of the problems that cause infertility may be genetic. For example, male children conceived with the use of ICSI may have the same infertility issues as their fathers.

Differences between IVF and ICSI

The key difference between IVF and ICSI is how the sperm fertilizes the egg. In IVF, the egg and sperm (of which there are many) are left in a laboratory dish to fertilize on their own. In ICSI, the selected sperm is directly injected into the egg.

Satisfactory results are yielded from ICSI. ICSI helps in reducing problems with abnormal fertilization caused by eggs and sperm- such as fertilization by multiple sperm and the inability of the sperm to penetrate the eggs (Zona Pellucida) and fertilize, etc.