5 replies to this topic

[Vivvvi]

Hello,

 

I am 41 years old, I have a good ovarian reserve and no fertility issues. I will be using a sperm donor. My doctor said that fertilization will have to be done with ICSI because sperm lose their motility after they have been thawed. 

 

My understand is that donor sperm is of the highest quality, and motility is tested by the sperm bank in after a freeze/thaw cycle.

 

Is ICSI justified here?

 

Thanks,

 

Vivi 

[Cotton]

I would do what they recommend. It doesn't make sense to potentially waste a few eggs to save the $1500 for ICSI. I've heard they recommend it for "mature" moms because the coating of the egg is physically harder to penetrate. Some clinics do ICSI for all their patients.

[DorothyandToto]

There was a chance we were going to have to use my husband’s frozen sperm for my last cycle and the doctor stated the same thing...motility seems more of an issue in thawed samples.

Also, as Cotton mentioned, women’s egg walls tend to be harder for sperm to naturally penetrate as we age and my doctor recommends ICSI for all women over 40. I am a believer as we had 100% fertilization rate with ICSI.

[Cotton]

We experienced 100% fertilization with ICSI as well despite using immature testicular sperm that were retrieved via biopsy.

 

BTW with ICSI the embryologist picks the best looking "superstar" sperm which are more likely to be high quality. With regular fertilization the sperm that fertilizes the egg is whichever one happened to get there first. Also the eggs start dying within hours outside the body if not fertilized. They can try rescue ICSI but I don't think it works as well as ICSI planned from the start

[Vivvvi]

Thank you, that's encouraging to hear. 

[annatarz79]

  Love the superstar sperm explanation!!!