ICSI and poor egg quality

[WHeatherW]

Hello

I am about to start my fifth round of IVF. We've done IVF (high dose of stims), ICSI and mild IVF and this time we're doing mixed protocol. We tried ICSI when we found out my partner has high DNA frag, but that was our worst round yet (we had 0 embryos by day 3). Our consultant has suggested we try ICSI again, but I'm so scared we'll have no embryos and this will likely be our last round.

About six weeks before the ICSI round I had surgery to remove an 11cm dermoid cyst and just before I started stims I also got COVID... although I was assured this wouldn't impact the cycle!

Could all of this just been a recipe for disaster?

Do you think my low quality (nearly 40) eggs are too fragile for ICSI?

Has anyone else found ICSI has damaged their low quality eggs and negatively impact the cycle?

Has anyone had any joy with ICSI and low quality eggs?

Would you try ICSI again?

Thanks everyone x

[HelzBelzUK]

Hey xx

I’ve got poor egg quality (aged 40) and our clinic uses ICSI as a standard.

Has your partner done anything to improve his fragmentation?

Does your clinic use the zymot chamber? That selects the healthiest sperm for ICSI.

I understand how you feel being nervous because our first ICSI cycle was horrendous and we only got one early blast. I was so scared to try it again but no two cycles are the same and it just comes down to how the egg and sperm are on the day xx Good luck xx

[WHeatherW in reply to HelzBelzUK]

It’s so nerve wracking and I’m going round in circles wondering what’s for the best, horrendous! That’s so true about not every cycle being the same too.

My partner has done everything he can really. We haven’t retested though!

I’ve not heard of the chamber so I will defo take a look at this, thank you xx

[HelzBelzUK in reply to WHeatherW]

I would ask your clinic if they have it xx It’s really inexpensive.. we only paid £100 for it xx

[SarahHit]

We've tried icsi once following our successful round just because 5 eggs had more than one sperm get in so we thought icsi might improve our overall numbers. My eggs died on injection so we've never considered it again, my clinic have said traditional IVF is the way to go for us and our last round we got 6 eggs, 5 fertilized and 3 made it to day 5. Depending on how many eggs you get you could try half and half? It's all trial and error but if it was me I'd regret not seeing what would happen with a different technique if one hadn't worked.

[WHeatherW in reply to SarahHit]

My consultant suggested doing half and half when I said I was worried... depending on the number of eggs. I think that will be the safest option. Everything just seems that little more nerve wracking going into it for the last time! x

[BM000]

If your clinic offer it then there is a technique called PICSI which is supposed to be better for those with fragmentation. There is an extra step involved which helps the embryologists to choose sperm that are genetically normal. Assisted Oocyte Activation may also help with fertilization and development issues

[WHeatherW in reply to BM000]

My clinic has mentioned it to us in the past, but coz I was so against trying ICSI again, I didn't look into it further. I'll have a look, maybe if we're going for ICSI we might as well try that too. Thank you

[Vassi]

Hi, personally for me I've had mixed results with icsi, some cycles good and some not so good, but when we tried switching it up to normal ivf that was my worst round yet. What gave me the best results was icsi with zymot & oocyte activation. But for 3 months prior to this my partner and I did supps, diet changes etc.

All the best x

[WHeatherW in reply to Vassi]

We’re both doing all we can in terms of diet, supplements, no alcohol etc etc. I’ll have a look at the oocyte activation. Thank you xx

[Vassi in reply to WHeatherW]

You're welcome, have a look into calcium ionophores xx