ICSI risks

[Anonymous]

Hello,

So I guess I was quite naive to this whole process and now that my clinic is giving me all these waivers to sign, I am learning of the risks of ICSI for increased birth defects and other abnormalities. ICSI is recommended to me for age and required for pgs testing by this clinic. Also is required if using frozen sperm. Then I started to google and it is frightening.

Can anyone share their experiences? Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I was scared too, but I did it anyway because I did natural cycle and they said I’d have better odds with icsi. I did work on the first try, and the kid is 7 now. No birth defects or anything like that. Sometimes a little ornery. I did do the materniT21 test and the extra sonogram at 11 weeks to look for problems.

[Anonymous]

I mean, the point of icsi is to get better fertilization rates, so the alternative may be less embryos that you can’t test for genetic abnormalities. So in the grand scheme, what is more important to you?

[Anonymous]

With all of the testing available in addition to PGS nowadays, that should be the last of your worries. Good luck OP.

[Anonymous]

When I looked into this a while back the evidence was pretty limited and the overall risk was pretty low (even if the risk, say, doubled from .1% to .2% that is still not a lot to worry about), but also it was unclear if ICSI enabled fertilization that wouldn't have happened without it (vs the process actually increasing problems).

[Anonymous]

We did fresh icsi. I feel like they screened a lot. Kid is 6 and send bright. Also a good dancer