IVF / ICSI

IVF and ICSI are the most common ways to help you have a baby, but they’re very different fertility treatments.

Here are the main differences between IVF and ICSI, and when each would generally be recommended.

IVF Explained: What is IVF?
IVF – In-Vitro Fertilisation - involves the use of fertility drugs to gently stimulate your ovaries to produce quality mature eggs, which are retrieved and then fertilised in the laboratory with sperm from either your partner or a donor. Sperm and eggs are placed together in a special dish and eggs monitored for signs of fertilisation.

The best quality resulting embryo is selected for transfer, where it’s placed into your uterus to implant and grow for pregnancy.

Advantages of IVF
IVF allows us to maximise the chance of fertilisation by placing eggs with sperm. We can choose the embryo with the highest potential for pregnancy thanks to our advanced embryo selection techniques, which include time-lapse monitoring and Preimplantation Genetic Screening. If you have more than one good embryo from your cycle, you can freeze the remainder to use in future treatment cycles.

Why IVF may be advised
IVF is designed to overcome issues that prevent sperm from fertilising an egg in the body, such as fallopian tube damage or blockages. It may also be advised in some cases of unexplained infertility, or in mild cases of male infertility.

ICSI Explained: What is ICSI?
ICSI means Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, and it’s a refinement of the IVF technique. Instead of sperm being mixed with the egg in the laboratory, the best single, healthy sperm is extracted from the sample and injected directly into the egg to fertilise it.

Advantages of ICSI
ICSI helps you get pregnant when your partner has sperm problems. Because the sperm is injected it bypasses the other stages of early fertilisation. . Only the best quality sperm is used for fertilisation, as identified by one of our Embryologists.

Why ICSI may be advised
ICSI is a treatment designed to overcome male fertility issues, such as low sperm count or poor sperm mobility, which prevents sperm from fertilising the egg naturally. It’s also used for surgically-retrieved sperm, or for men whose sperm has high levels of DNA damage. If sperm issues aren’t the cause of your fertility problems, IVF would normally be recommended instead.