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Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) enables men with poor sperm quality to father children. ICSI is used when the male has a very low sperm count or if there is a low percentage of normal shaped sperm. It is used in some cases of unexplained infertility and can also be used for older couples.

In the ICSI procedure, a microscopic hole is placed in the egg membrane with an instrument that resembles a needle. A single sperm from the male is inserted into the egg.

There is no difference between the offspring produced by ICSI and those conceived by other methods. There is now broad, successful, clinical experience with hundreds of ICSI patients and their children. Embryologists receive advanced training to enable them to perform this delicate procedure.

TESE/MESA

Even in men with no sperm seen at the time of semen analysis, there may be sperm within the testes. This sperm can be removed by aspiration from the epididymis or testes in procedures called TESE (testicular sperm extraction) or MESA (microscopic epididymal sperm aspiration). TESE and MESA procedures combined with ICSI allow many men, previously considered sterile, to produce children.

Click here to view the ICSI procedure