Among infertile couples, either partner may contribute to the failure to conceive. It is estimated that 30-40% of infertility is due to male abnormalities, another 20% to a combination of various factors, and about 30-40% to problems with the female partner.

The Genetics & IVF Institute offers expert diagnosis and treatment of male infertility. Our male infertility treatment offers the following benefits:

If donor sperm is needed, our on-site sperm bank, Fairfax Cryobank, provides a large selection of high quality, fully screened donor sperm. In fact, GIVF patients who choose donor sperm from Fairfax Cryobank can enjoy free shipping and handling, as well as same day delivery. Click here to learn more about Fairfax Cryobank.

An important component in the treatment of men with infertility is establishing the correct diagnosis. Our medical specialists conduct a thorough clinical evaluation of each couple. State of the art semen analysis and specialized sperm function testing are available, including measurement of sperm capacitation and acrosome reaction, computer assisted sperm motion analysis (CASA), sperm antibody, and leukocyte quantitation. An appropriate individualized treatment is then recommended.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), is the direct injection of sperm into eggs obtained for in vitro fertilization (IVF). GIVF has extensive experience with ICSI and have established thousands of pregnancies using this technique. ICSI frequently permits the establishment of pregnancy in even the most difficult types of male infertility, including men who have fewer than 100 sperm in their semen. For men with no sperm at all in their semen, sperm can be obtained directly from the testis with non-surgical sperm aspiration (NSA). Testicular sperm can fertilize when injected directly into eggs using ICSI.

The ICSI Process:

ICSI has been widely used for over ten years. GIVF performed the first ICSI pregnancy in the US and since then the procedure has become the standard of care for male factor infertility. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) considers it a safe, effective procedure that has helped thousands of men becomes fathers. If you have questions or concerns about ICSI, please let your doctor or nurse know so that we can discuss it with you.

The difference between IVF and ICSI is in how the sperm meets the egg. With traditional IVF, the sperm is poured on the egg. That is to say that the sperm is put into the petri dish that the eggs are in and fertilization takes place in the dish the same way it would in the fallopian tubes. Millions of sperm compete to fertilize each egg.

With ICSI, an individual sperm is injected into a single egg. ICSI is used when there is a problem with the sperm; thereby the likelihood of fertilization is increased if we inject the sperm directly into the egg. ICSI does not guarantee that fertilization takes place, but it does ensure that sperm meets egg. With traditional IVF, the sperm may never pass through the outer zona of the egg. Your doctor will advise you if ICSI is recommended for you based on the results of the semen testing and a few other risk factors.

Non-surgical sperm aspiration (NSA) is a quick and painless procedure performed in our clinic under sedation. A tiny needle is used to extract sperm directly from the testis. While the ejaculate normally contains 100 million to 300 million sperm, aspiration of as few as 100-200 sperm by NSA have been enough to achieve pregnancy when it is combined with ICSI.

NSA may be recommended for men who:

It is possible to reverse a vasectomy by having bypass surgery, but the operation is frequently unsuccessful, especially for men with long-standing vasectomies. Additionally, sperm quality after vasectomy reversal is often reduced and ICSI is required even if sperm appear in the ejaculate. For many men, NSA eliminates the need for vasectomy reversal surgery.

Prior to the development of NSA, men with no sperm in their ejaculate had to undergo surgery to remove sperm either from their testes or from tubes connected to the testis. The operation required a costly hospital stay and a lengthy recuperation. NSA is a quick and painless procedure performed at GIVF, does not require hospitalization, and recovery is virtually immediate. It should be noted that for some men, a single NSA procedure may yield enough sperm to permit sperm freezing for several subsequent ICSI attempts.

NSA must be done with ICSI because testicular sperm cannot enter eggs by themselves. In order to accomplish this, the female partner receives a series of medications to increase the number of eggs created by the ovary as in a conventional IVF cycle. When the eggs grow to adequate size, they are extracted non-surgically at GIVF under sedation, and NSA is scheduled the same day. After egg retrieval and sperm aspiration, our embryologists inject each egg with a single sperm. Two days after the procedures, definite information regarding fertilization of the eggs, and the number of embryos are available. Embryos are transferred back to the uterus two or three days following fertilization; additional embryos may be cryopreserved (frozen), as requested.

If donor sperm is needed, our on-site sperm bank, Fairfax Cryobank, provides a large selection of high quality, fully screened donor sperm. In fact, GIVF patients who choose donor sperm from Fairfax Cryobank can enjoy free shipping and handling, as well as same day delivery. Click here to learn more about Fairfax Cryobank.

Click here or call 800.552.4363 or 703.698.7355 to schedule a fertility consultation at GIVF.

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Male Infertility - Genetics & IVF Institute

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