IVF or ICSI - to think that one is more effective than the other?

[JS5]

Hi everyone,

Husband and I are about to start IVF after ungergoing infertility investigations the past few years. I have been given the option of either standard IVF or ICSI. I’m not sure which route to choose, so I’d love to hear from anyone who has gone through this.

For context, I’m 37 and have PCOS, cycles are somewhat long (35days) but fairly regular. My AMH came back at 26.2, and I’m not sure if that’s considered a good level for my age and diagnosis. On top of that, there were concerns about sperm quality — all 3 parameters were below average for natural conception, though the gynaecologist said "it’s still good enough for IVF".

Please could you share If you had IVF or ICSI, how many times and what was your experience like?

Which method did you go for?

What were your fertilisation rates like?

If you’ve tried both, was one noticeably better?

How many embryos made it to day 5?

Anything you wish you had known beforehand?

I know every situation is different, but hearing real experiences from other mums would help me decide between IVF and ICSI.

Thanks so much 💜

I would go for IVF for your first attempt. If you get fertilisation the embryos are likely to be stronger as they have already had to do some natural selection.
If IVF doesn’t work then on your second attempt try ICSI.
I’m surprised your clinic haven’t properly talked you through both options though - just leaving you to make the decision on your own, rather than talking it through with you until you reach the decision together with them is a bit of a red flag I’m afraid.

ISCI is excellent if the problem is v. low sperm count.

for most other issues, regular IVF is fine.

We went straight to icsi/imsi after 3 failed iuis as we were older (36) didn't have lots of money for lots of attempts and sperm motility wasn't great

Morphology not motility sorry

Absolutely after five attempts of IVF we were successful with two lovely children after ICSI. Best of luck to you, it’s a very difficult time. 💐

You need to tell the clinic to step up. They need to be strongly guiding you on this, it isn't a decision for you to make really!

ICSI comes with a cost implication. If sperm is the issue, you need it. If not, normal IVF should be fine but clinic need to be explaining it to you so you're in no doubt what treatment you're going for and why.

Regular IVF unless the sperm parameters are very low. We had ICSI due to.male factor infertility, because my husband had very low sperm count, morphology and motility, normal IVF wouldn't have worked for us.

We got 7 embryos and all 7 made it to day 5, one slowed down so wasn't frozen on day 5 so had one fresh transfer and 5 were frozen. Fresh transfer didn't take but 2 months later had a frozen transfer and he's 2.5 now :) transferred on a Thursday and had a faint positive trat on the Monday. He hasn't stopped trying to grow up too fast since!

Your clinic shouldn't be so blasè about it though, if the sperm count is very low then ISCI and if not then IVF. ICSI is more expensive as involved alot more embryologist input, don't know if you're private or funded.

The nurse said I will have a consultation with embryologist closer to retrieving eggs and will be told more about it ask any questions and then make a decision, I'm currently waiting for day1 of my period so not started anything yet. I guess at this point I'm just gathering as much information as I can and be prepared as much as I can to make informed decision with embryologist. I'm sure the catch up with embryologist will be helpful but hearing experiences of mothers on here would be such a great help x

Had ICSI due to male factor infertility. Our treatment was NHS funded and the clinic advised this was the best option for us in our situation. However, they did say they would assess my husbands sperm on the day and would have considered switching to just IVF if the numbers allowed for- this did not happen, so ICSI it was.

Had 12 eggs retrieved, 8 fertilised, 4 made it to day 5 embryos and finally had my DD last week after 3 embryo transfers. Best of luck OP!

Thank you everyone this has been really helpful. ICSI seems to be the better option.

Anymore thoughts are still welcome x

We were borderline and could have gone for IVF. However, on the day of egg collection our embryologist recommended ICSI after she’d analysed my DHs sample. So perhaps that might be the way to go?

we had 22 eggs collected, 16 mature eggs fertilise with the ICSI and ultimately 11 embryos frozen (6 A, 3 B & 2 Cs). I wasn’t able to have a fresh transfer due to other health issues. Now almost 12 weeks pregnant following our first frozen transfer. Appreciate we have been incredibly, incredibly lucky.

wishing you all the best with your treatment

We had three IVF and then one icsi which at 39 resulted in our son who is now 29 so pleased we had that in the end as I could not have gone through another IBF just a thought we had all of it done at Kings College Hospital in London for a much reduced price as they have students in who need to practice. Don’t know if they still do it but it was marvellous best of luck to you both.