Intracytoplasmic Morphologically Selected Sperm Injection (IMSI) is a sperm selection procedure. A high-powered microscope is used in the process of sperm selection. The sperm is assessed with an inverted microscope. The microscope used in ICSI is of 200x magnification and in IMSI, the microscope used is of a greater magnification of 6000x. This helps the embryologist to identify the best quality sperm which can be used for injecting into the egg.
The ideal candidate for the IMSI procedure should be:
- People with a past history of IVF treatment failure
- People who have not achieved good results in the ICSI
- People with high level antibodies in the semen
- People who have abnormal semen motility
- Those with very low sperm count
The interior morphology of the eggs will be analysed by the biologist using the magnifier. Defective sperms will be discarded before injecting them. Every single sperm is picked up, analyzed and injected directly into the egg. Very few sperm are used for the procedure as IMSI assists the sperms in penetrating eggs. The procedure can only be done by an experienced and efficient embryologist.