For around half of couples who are having problems conceiving, the cause of infertility is sperm-related. ICSI is the most common and successful treatment for male infertility. This page will introduce you to ICSI, who it might be suitable for and what the risks are.

Your doctor may recommend ICSI if:

• You have a very low sperm count
• Your sperm are abnormally shaped (poor morphology) or they don’t move normally (poor motility)
• You’ve had IVF previously and there were problems with fertilisation
• You need sperm to be collected surgically from the testicles or epididymis (a narrow tube inside the scrotum where sperm are stored and matured); for example because you have had a vasectomy, you don’t ejaculate sperm, or because you have an extremely low sperm count
• You’re using frozen sperm in your treatment which isn’t of the highest quality
• You’re having embryo testing for a genetic condition.

ICSI itself is very successful at helping the sperm and the egg to fertilise – fertilisation happens in around 90% of cases. However, as in IVF there are still many other factors affecting a successful pregnancy, including the age of the woman and whether she has any fertility difficulties herself. Success rates for ICSI tend to be very similar to IVF so we don’t publish separate statistics.

Your treatment will be exactly the same as with IVF. The only difference is that instead of mixing the sperm with the eggs and leaving them to fertilise, a skilled embryologist (embryo specialist) will inject a single sperm into the egg.

This maximises the chance of fertilisation taking place as it bypasses any potential problems the sperm will have in actually getting to the egg.