When Should You Consider IMSI?

IMSI is an acronym for Intracytoplasmic Morphologically Selected Sperm Injection. IMSI is an elective procedure done in IVF treatment to improve its success.

IMSI is chiefly suggested for couples with male infertility to achieve a successful pregnancy through IVF. IMSI helps analyze and determine healthy sperm for microinjection into an egg using a high power magnification.

IMSI is an upgraded and advanced version of ICSI. With a higher success rate than ICSI, it is a complex treatment available only at a few IVF centres in Mumbai.

Now, let’s know,

IMSI is an advancement in assisted reproductive technology. IMSI includes injecting a single sperm into a mature egg that has been carefully selected.

In some men, the heads of sperm are abnormally shaped and have vacuoles. These abnormal sperms are less likely to carry genetic material.

IMSI uses high magnification to detect sperm defects and select the sperm that appear to be the healthier. High magnification is required due to the small size of sperm in comparison to the egg.

With the IMSI technique, experts can examine the morphology and motility of the sperm and reject the abnormal sperms for injecting into the selected eggs.

An IVF specialist in Mumbai may recommend IMSI to men who have:

• Fewer numbers of sperms
• More number of abnormally shaped sperms
• Less number of motile sperms
• Evidence of poor outcomes with previous ICSI treatments

• An improved selection method can boost the chances of fertilization and healthy embryo formation for men with high numbers of abnormal sperms and previously failed IVF outcomes with ICSI.
• In IMSI, an embryologist observes a single sperm at 6,000X high power magnification under a digital microscope to detect defective sperm. It chooses the healthy sperm for injecting into an egg.
• Traditional sperm selection methods, on the other hand, use 400X magnification to check for visible anomalies in the sperms.

1. An embryologist prepares a fresh semen sample before the process.
2. A single sperm is selected under a high-power magnification microscope by an embryologist skilled in IMSI techniques.
3. After harvesting the eggs, the eggs are cleaned and tested to find mature eggs for fertilization, as in standard ICSI.
4. The selected, mature sperm is picked and then inserted into the chosen egg using a fine glass needle.
5. The microinjected eggs are cultured in an incubator overnight in labelled sterile culture dishes.
6. Further, the resulting embryos are implanted in the uterus as in the IVF procedure.

An IMSI treatment improves the chances of embryo fertilization and its normal development, especially among the men who had a previous poor IVF outcome with ICSI treatment and men with high numbers of abnormal sperm.