What is IMSI in IVF treatments?
IMSI (Intracytoplasmic Morphologically Selected Sperm Injection) is a sperm selection method to select the best sperm to be injected into the egg’s cytoplasm. This is a relatively new technique, and very few fertility clinics have this facility.
IMSI is the enhanced version of the conventional ICSI procedure. While ICSI gives approximately 200x magnification, IMSI gives us almost 6000x magnification allowing us to select the best of the best sperm for fertilization, thus increasing success rates.
Most times, defective sperm are less likely to contain normal genetic material because they have vacuoles (cavities) and abnormally shaped heads. We, at PFRC, use IMSI to choose the sperm that appears the most normal through high-power magnification.
We prefer IMSI because it takes a special high-power magnifier to see sperm, as they are so small compared to the egg.
Why perform IMSI?
IMSI is performed in cases of severe male factor infertility to get better results during IVF treatments. The digital high-magnification of sperm allows doctors to distinguish between normal and defective sperm with ease.
IMSI allows for a 6000x amplification of sperms, making it possible to detect and exclude defective sperm more precisely from the fertilization process. Healthy sperm can be selected to fertilize the egg through ICSI.
Who is IMSI for?
We suggest IMSI for couples who have
How does IMSI work?
IMSI operates in a unique manner. In the conventional ICSI procedure, embryologists used to select the most normal-looking sperm through a microscope. These microscopes give up to 400x magnification of the sperm.
IMSI, on the other hand, uses a microscope that magnifies sperm up to 6000 times, allowing us to detect even the smallest structural changes in sperm that can affect or improve egg fertilization.
IMSI procedure we follow
- Our doctors do an initial sperm selection from the fresh sample collected.
- The selection is carried out using a microscope that is 15 times more powerful than a standard microscope.
- A microscope is used to analyze the internal morphology of the sperm.
- Doctors promptly exclude faulty sperm at this stage after inspecting them.
- Doctors choose the normal sperms and place them in a catheter after discarding the abnormal sperms.
- Following egg retrieval, as with standard ICSI, the eggs are washed and inspected to identify which eggs are mature enough for injection.
- The sperms are then injected into the egg’s cytoplasm for fertilization. The eggs are then monitored closely for development into embryos.
- The best among the embryos is selected and transferred into the uterus at the optimum time to result in pregnancy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection (IMSI) is a sperm selection method used in ICSI. The method involves using a microscope to examine sperm under extremely high magnification (around x6000). Embryologists can use this to view comprehensive images of sperm and select the best ones for fertilization.
The primary distinction between IMSI and ICSI is that IMSI uses a higher magnification to analyze sperm morphology, allowing the embryologist to discover even the smallest flaws in the sperm head that would not otherwise be seen with the standard ICSI procedure.