If you ask a couple in the street what are the differences between IVF and ICSI, two procedures which lead to have a healthy and lovely baby and overcoming your infertility issues! Perhaps they say we are so prosperous without babies, and the answer to such questions is not our concern!
But, on the other side, we have around 17.5 infertile couples worldwide who need high-quality fertility care by applying ART techniques like IVF and ICSI!
Suppose you are one of the patients newly introduced to such miracle methods, which are subfields of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). In that case, this blog post on TebMedTourism is exactly where you should stop and look precisely at IVF and ICSI.
But even if you have experience with IVF cycles and now your infertility doctor has referred you to the ICSI treatment, you should know how valuable information and conceiving data could affect your decision!
Some people are oblivious to the differences, and when it comes to final costs, they will be surprised; so before entering any medical process, it is wise to get enough information on all aspects, leading to different final price estimations!
Precise watching involves observing the technical part and medical parts, and the good news is that in this post, we have discussed all the following items comprehensively:
- IVF and ICSI step by step (each one separately)
- Understanding IVF and ICSI procedures
- The cost of IVF and ICSI
- IVF and ICSI success rate
- IVF and ICSI risks and complications
- Supports and emotional consideration in IVF and ICSI
- Future of ART methods with special focus on IVF and ICSI
- Which one is better for you: IVF or ICSI
IVF and ICSI
Infertile couples for many years struggling with some inefficient treatments, unfortunately from superstitious cultures, home remedies, inexperienced doctors and trying many weird and uncertain ways or paying astronomical prices in second countries for IVF!
But due to this important point that TebMedTourism believe that knowledge and professional care could make miracle result, at the first step propose reading informational articles like this post and push you in knowing differences between IVF and ICSI. So read on!
What is the difference between IVF and ICSI?
For highly observant patients knowing everything about infertility treatment, side effects, success rates, etc., is very important! So for dear discerning readers, we will explore all sides of IVF and ICSI alongside understanding IVF and ICSI!
Firstly, in the terminological aspect: IVF or in vitro, fertilization is combining egg and sperm in a lab dish, but the other side ICSI is intracytoplasmic sperm injection, which is injecting a single sperm into an egg in a lab under high-tech microscopes!
But here isn’t the end of the story; perhaps you will say to yourself bingo! I understand everything about IVF and ICSI, but this is the start of your informational journey!
IVF and ICSI each have their complications and risk, their candidates! The other Key difference between these two advanced infertility treatments is latent in one important aspect: the type of your infertility!
ICSI procedure has its candidates! If the main reason for infertility is male infertility, which could be caused by low sperm production, abnormal sperm function, etc., patients will refer to the ICSI treatment! So as you see alongside differences in forming embryo and infertility type, there are essential variations like:
- IVF and ICSI success rates
- IVF and ICSI costs
- IVF and ICSI risks and complications
We have a special focus on it!
What is IVF and ICSI treatment?
For couple with infertility issues, when it comes to the fertility specialists after going over your fertility medical history, you will hear sentences like “Dear, MS and Mr. … my diagnosis is primary or secondary infertility, and depending on your specific circumstances, I suggest ICSI”. And you will ask, in a super devastating mood, “What is ICSI and IVF?”
Fortunately, nowadays, IVF and ICSI are heroes who have fulfilled their dream of having a healthy baby!
- Briefly, if we want to speak about IVF, we should say in this extraordinary treatment, after blood tests and ultrasound, you will undergo the following items:
- Stimulation of the ovaries
- Egg retrieval (female partner)/ Sperm collecting (male partner)
- Fertilization (in lab environment via natural combining of egg and sperm)
- Embryo development (in a lab under an appropriate cultivation environment)
- Embryo transfer
- The pregnancy test
- ICSI is a technical treatment, which in this method, by utilizing a needle, the sperm will be injected into the egg, which called microinjection!
So as you can understand from the passage, an embryologist will do this technique in the lab under a controlled, stable, and undisturbed environment!
Where are the similarities between ICSI and IVF treatments?
The most important question is: “How do embryologists prepare eggs and sperm?”
A critical stage in IVF and ICSI is the preparation of the egg and sperm. The ovaries are induced to generate many eggs in both techniques, which are subsequently extracted.
For fertilization, the sperm is gathered and processed. In in vitro fertilization, the sperm and eggs are combined in a dish and allowed to fertilize independently. A sperm is directly inserted into the egg during ICSI to fertilize it. The preparation of the egg and sperm is a significant similarity between the two techniques, notwithstanding their variances.
Is IVF and ICSI the same?
In most steps except one step, embryo development, they are the same! But your fertility specialist, after weighing all impacting factors, observing tests and evaluations, and finding what is interfering with your efforts to a successful pregnancy, will suggest IVF or ICSI procedures!
The IVF Process: A Step-by-Step Guide
Now, you could guess that IVF is so complicated, not to mention that you need more details, all things considered, so we are preparing a step-by-step guide for you to be ready for your IVF/ICSI journey via this useful information!
Step 1: Stimulating ovary
During a typical monthly cycle, your ovaries produce one egg. Throughout an IVF cycle, you will take medication for 10 to 14 days to encourage the development of fresh, high-quality eggs. Injectable medications start on your cycle’s second day.
Step 2: Egg retrieval or Egg collecting or egg harvesting
Collecting the eggs from the ovaries of the intended mother or egg donor by a specialist called egg retrieval is a hospital-day procedure. Don’t be afraid of pain because, during this step, you will give anesthesia. Therefore, there isn’t any sign of pain during the egg retrieval process!
Step 3: Sperm collection
After semen analysis, on the morning of the egg retrieval, due to the benefits of using fresh sperms vs. frozen sperms, collecting sperm, depending on the individual’s situation, will be done. Using fresh sperms, in this step, depends on companies’ policies! For instance, TebMedTourism policy has concentrated on fresh sperm due to the statistics which showed the chance of successful pregnancy with fresh sperm and egg is higher than frozen sperm!
Step 4: Fertilization
Embryos are created by fertilizing mature, high-quality eggs with sperms in an incubator without applying any forces, contrary to what happens in ICSI. In ICSI, which is called before that microinjection, a force enters sperm into the egg by a needle and the other instruments!
Step 5: Embryo development and embryo transfer
The process of embryo development should begin 17 hours after the sperm and egg have united in ideal fertilization.
The developed embryo(s), which have been in existence for three to five days, are then placed in the intended mother’s uterus in a process called an “embryo transfer” or “ET”.
Step 6: The pregnancy blood test
Two weeks after your embryo transfer, you will have a blood test to check your levels of the hCG hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin). If the results are good, you will have the test again in two days (on the sixteenth day of ET).
The entire IVF process, from embryo transfer to the pregnancy test result, takes between 28 and 33 days.
The ICSI Process: A Step-by-Step Guide
ICSI step-by-step draws you in with its careful attention to detail: you can see all steps, get information with names of each step, and if you have any questions, you can read related posts in TebMedTourism medical articles!
And a glance at ICSI, you will see the following items:
- Holds the mature egg in place on a lab dish using a pipette, a tiny glass tube with a suction bulb.
- Utilizes a tiny needle to immobilize and collect one sperm.
- To access the cytoplasm, insert the needle into the egg.
- Sperm is injected into the cytoplasm.
How is ICSI different from IVF?
If you’re wondering what the differences between IVF and ICSI are, and you are seeking the answer to this question of which is better, ICSI or IVF? Check out the next subtitle! The next subtitle will discuss the most important technical part of IVF and ICSI!
Our answers are completely reliable, and the good news is that these questions have been replied to by a specialist who is informed of your concerns. In other words, all answers in this post are reliable and under the monitoring of a well-skilled and experienced doctor of TebMedTourism Co!
Technical part
Definitely, during times you were struggling with infertility issues and googling on the internet, you had been confronted with many techniques and technologies which, according to patients’ opinions, had acted for them as a miracle!
Constantly seeking reassurance that with the opted method, you could fulfill your dream is so excruciating unless you could understand the technical aspect of the treatment. Via this approach, you could be a winner!
In vitro fertilization, as mentioned in the second heading, combines egg and sperm without applying any forces. Still, on the contrary, ICSI injects sperm into the egg, which means utilizing instruments and a high-tech microscope is necessary!
Ultimately, knowledge in this sector could be empowering! So to get more data on these comparison topics on IVF and ICSI, don’t miss reading the rest of this post on TebMedTourism!
The Cost of IVF and ICSI: Factors to Consider
The final cost of procedures is the most questionable part of each procedure. After thoroughly reviewing IVF and ICSI differences, it’s time to discuss the Cost difference between IVF and ICSI!
The cost of infertility treatments which are a subfield of ART methods depends on factors such as:
- Location (country)
- Clinic
- Lab (Utilizing high-tech lab for genetic tests, karyotyping, and embryo development is necessary)
- Genetic tests like PGD/NGS/PGT-A
And innovative methods like PRP, HA, DF, etc. Which, alongside the main procedure of IVF and ICSI, will be utilized!
*As you know, several key factors can affect the final cost of IVF or ICSI treatments. However, one factor that stands out among facilitators is the options of innovative methods in their proposed packages!
For instance, IVF in Iran by TebMedTourism is only $3,200. Our package for one cycle IVF/ICSI includes embryo glue (Hyaluronic Acid or HA) which increases the chance of successful implantation; compared to USA countries for one IVF cycle, you should expect more than $12,000!
Success Rates of IVF and ICSI: What to Expect?
Would getting the highest success rate, especially in infertility treatment, be more approachable? In this paragraph TebMedTourism, a well-known company with a high success rate in IVF and ICSI, responds exclusively to you!
Firstly, we will answer this question “Is ICSI more successful than IVF?”. Recent research shows that the IVF process could be as efficient as the ICSI process. As we said before, in cases where male infertility has a key role in infertility issues, ICSI acts as a miracle treatment!
On the other hand, embryo quality has a crucial role in the success rate. Based on the data, ICSI and IVF embryos have the same quality, so both methods are efficient.
Also, in a separate article, ICSI success rate, we have very useful tips, which by putting them into practice, definitely could overcome to complications of IVF and ICSI!
Risks and Complications of IVF and ICSI
Before entering any procedure, for making an informed decision, definitely, the most important step is getting more information on risks and complications, so if you’re interested in all risks that could be in front of you in both methods, stay with us!
Common risks in both IVF and ICSI
- Multiple pregnancies. (Due to transferring more than one embryo!)
- Increased potential for miscarriage.
ICSI risks
- Increased potential for destroying eggs. (due to injecting a needle into an egg during the ICSI technique)
We should mention a point that the risk rate of cognitive disorders in natural babies is the same as in ICSI/IVF babies!
Does ICSI work better than IVF?
If you’re an experienced patient in IVF, it is a common dialogue between you and your doctor probably, “Oh, one of my friend had a successful ICSI recently, no thanks I’ll figure it out myself, I wouldn’t intend to going through IVF for second time!!!! People says ICSI work better than IVF”, but what is truth?
The reality is that people often run from exhaustion! They think going through the second and third IVF cycles could be killing and exhausting, so they should find a way out to escape!
The true answer to such a question is: “It varies”.
Compared to traditional IVF, which fertilizes about 50% of eggs, ICSI fertilizes an average of 50–80% of the injected eggs.
On the other hand, when there is no male infertility issue, research demonstrates that IVF is equally effective as the ICSI process. In these circumstances, the cumulative live birth rates in reputable clinics for IVF and ICSI were alike.
Emotional considerations and support during IVF and ICSI
Family, friends, support groups, and mental health specialists can all offer emotional support during IVF and ICSI. In addition to trusting a well-known agency, like TebMedTourism, during your online consultation and chats with your specialist, you could guess how they’re kind and, in a professional way, could help patients deal with the mental stress and worry brought on by the procedure!
A key turning point in a couple’s life is becoming parents. Couples have the opportunity to become parents with the assistance of a fertility specialist, who could give them good news via utilizing ART methods like IVF and ICSI!
However, going through IVF and ICSI processes might be stressful for some couples. Mental well-being and fertility are related. For the journey to be as comfortable as possible, couples must understand each step to overcome their stressful moments!
So starting IVF and ICSI journey with an experienced agency, as famous as TebMedTourism, in infertility treatments is a significant step towards making the dream of parenthood true!
Innovations in IVF and ICSI: The future of fertility treatment
As a result of the bombardment of news about the rapid development of modern technology, we often hear people in our surroundings say things like, “I don’t want to know the latest trends!” But we assure you that learning more about developments that could boost IVF and ICSI success rates benefits your wallet.
Consider scenarios where you would need to pay more than you have seen before in package prices to fulfill your desire to have a healthy baby since PGD/PGS is required for your child! You might be wondering what the latest advancements in IVF and ICSI are when your agency, like TebMedTourism, talks about the unique characteristics of its packages, which include HA, or when they claim to use embryo scope in their high-tech labs.
- PGD or pre-implantation genetic diagnostic
With the help of these innovative methods, genetic screenings like pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS), non-invasive genetic screening (NGS), and pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) give hopeful couples knowledge about the genetic heritage of their family and enable them to make better decisions about the health of their unborn children. Although PGS may affect the quality of embryo to some extend and may reduce the final success rate up to 4%.
- Vitrification devices (for keeping embryos safe)
In IVF, sperm, embryos, and eggs are vitrified and stored for later use. A quick freezing procedure called Vitrification stops the growth of ice crystals, which could harm the cells. By enabling the storage of genetic material until it is required, this technology has considerably increased the success rates of IVF and ICSI procedures.
- HA or Hyaluronic Acid (embryo glue)
This method of improving the ICSI success rate is so widely established in studies that HA ICSI will be applied in two steps. Initially, sperm are chosen based on their capacity to bind to hyaluronic acid before being directly injected into the egg. By using this method, the likelihood of successful fertilization and embryo development may be increased.
The second use of HA is in the embryo transfer step, in which the chance of healthy pregnancy and live birth could increase rapidly via HA-ICSI before embryo transfer.
- Embryoscope (by Embryoscope and time-lapse systems you could monitor your embryos during culturing)
- Time-lapse: Time-lapse incubator helps to select the healthier embryos with higher success rate of implantation in the uterine wall or endometrium.
In previous ICSI / IVF methods, the embryologist checks the growth and development of embryos under microscope everyday which needs departing them from the incubator for this purpose.
Comparing IVF and ICSI: Which is Right for You?
Briefly and only in one sentence, we should say; ICSI is utilized when there is a male cause of infertility, while IVF is used for female infertility and infertility that cannot be explained. When there is no male reason for infertility, ICSI is occasionally administered, although data indicate that this does not raise the likelihood of becoming pregnant.
ICSI may be able to assist you in becoming pregnant if:
- The sperm from the male partner can’t get to the female egg.
- The male sperm can reach the egg but cannot fertilize it for some reason.
So getting professional consultation, via free consultation on WhatsApp, should be your first priority!
We hope this article has given you some good clues on IVF and ICSI, but if you think speaking with an expert could be more helpful; End the struggle now and for getting free consultation with our doctor, call us!
