page_title: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection
section_title: Indications
hierarchical_section_title: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection / Indications
caption_attribution_description: English: Assisted Reproductive Technology. See a related animation of this medical topic.
context_page_description: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection is an in vitro fertilization procedure in which a single sperm cell is injected directly into the cytoplasm of an egg. This technique is used in order to prepare the gametes for the obtention of embryos that may be transferred to a maternal uterus. With this method acrosome reaction is skipped.
  There are several differences within classic IVF and ICSI. However, the steps to be followed before and after insemination are the same. In terms of insemination, ICSI needs one only sperm cell per oocyte, meanwhile IVF needs between 50 and 100 thousands. This is because acrosome reaction has to take place and thousands of sperm cells have to be involved in IVF. Once fertilized, the egg is transformed into a proembryo and it has to be transferred to the uterus to continue its development.
  The first human pregnancy generated by ICSI was carried out in 1991 by Gianpiero Palermo and his team.
context_section_description: This procedure is most commonly used to overcome male infertility problems, although it may also be used where eggs cannot easily be penetrated by sperm, and occasionally in addition to sperm donation.
  It can be used in teratozoospermia, because once the egg is fertilized, abnormal sperm morphology does not appear to influence blastocyst development or blastocyst morphology. Even with severe teratozoospermia, microscopy can still detect the few sperm cells that have a "normal" morphology, allowing for optimal success rate.
  It can also be used in Azoospermia, "Valious spermatozoa" (from Fertility Preservation after cancer, or because of a fertilization failure after IVF.
caption: Schematic image of intracytoplasmic sperm injection in the context of IVF.
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