Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)

Day 2-3 of Menstrual Cycle: The female partner starts hormonal injections (gonadotropins) to stimulate multiple egg growth.

📊 Monitoring includes:
✔ Ultrasounds to track follicle growth
✔ Blood tests to check hormone levels

⏳ Duration: 10-12 days of controlled ovarian stimulation to ensure mature egg production.

Once follicles reach 18-22mm, an hCG trigger shot is given to induce final egg maturation.

🔹 Procedure:
✔ Done under mild sedation – completely painless
✔ Eggs are retrieved using a fine needle under ultrasound guidance
✔ The retrieved eggs are sent to the laboratory for ICSI fertilization

🕒 Duration: 15-20 minutes
⏳ Recovery: Same-day discharge – rest recommended for 24 hours.

🔹 Fresh or frozen sperm is collected from the male partner (or a donor).

💡 If no sperm is found in the ejaculate, surgical sperm retrieval techniques like TESA (Testicular Sperm Aspiration) or Micro-TESE (Microsurgical Testicular Sperm Extraction) are performed.

🔬 Sperm Selection Process:
✔ Sperm is "washed" and analyzed to select the best-quality, motile sperm
✔ A single, healthy sperm is chosen for fertilization

🔹 In traditional IVF, sperm is mixed with the egg in a petri dish. In ICSI, a single sperm is directly injected into the egg using a fine micropipette.

✔ Fertilization is checked after 16-18 hours
✔ The fertilized egg (embryo) is cultured for 3-5 days before transfer

✔ Day 3 Embryo Transfer – Used for early-stage embryos
✔ Day 5 Blastocyst Transfer – Preferred for higher implantation success

💡 Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) can be performed before transfer to screen for genetic abnormalities.

The best-quality embryo is transferred into the uterus using a soft catheter.

✔ Painless procedure – No anesthesia required
✔ Takes 10-15 minutes
✔ Bed rest for a short time, then normal activities can resume

💡 Frozen Embryos can be stored for future attempts (Frozen Embryo Transfer – FET).