Who is ICSI suitable for?

From a patient perspective, undergoing an ICSI treatment cycle is exactly the same as a conventional IVF, and the same steps are involved.

Circumstances in which ICSI may be appropriate include:

* When the sperm count is very low, or the count of “good fertile” sperms is low.
* When the sperm cannot move properly or are in other ways abnormal specially in regard of their morphology (shape).
* When sperms are not present in semen, and has to be retrieved surgically from the testes.
* When there are high levels of antibodies in the semen.
* When there has been a previous fertilisation failure using conventional IVF. • When few numbers of oocytes are retrieved, as one would worry of fertilisation by IVF, and ICSI would be more successful.
* There are increasing tendency all over the world to use ICSI instead of using IVF even for non-male reasons.