Has anyone had lower fertilisation rates with ICSI than IVF?

[HopeWillTriumph]

Worse fertilisation with ICSI than IVF

has anyone else experienced this?
we are on our 6th ivf cycle. Usually no problems with fertilisation rate but cycle 5 was a little lower at 38% so we thought let’s try zymot and ICSi to throw everything at it.
very shocked when fertilisation was lower 22% (2 out of 9) despite injecting the best sperm? Has anyone else had this? We are waiting to see if either of the 2 that fertilised make it to day 5 then will discuss with our doctor.
im wondering what could cause this - I’m considering speaking to an embryologist privately to get another opinion as it seems so unusual - but I guess it could be ‘just bad luck’

Hey, so I had my first round and had 29 eggs. We did half and half and 0 ICSI fertilised. 10 fertilised with IVF but 7 abnormal. We ended up with one blast. they think it is DNA fragmentation and we are using ZyMot this time

Thanks I found it such a strange result. I might ask for half and half. We used zymot as well - which I think can be used with ivf. We haven’t done dna fragmentation testing as we are older and we’re advised to use zymot instead of testing to save time. You did so well to get so many eggs. Must have been heartbreaking to see that drop off rate- I hope the next round is better for you

I've never done ICSI and not an expert, but my understanding is that ICSI can throw up some problems - the 'best' sperm selected, are those selected by a human, not nature, based on what that person thinks 'looks' best. Its like with grading embryos - its a beauty contest, and may 5AA embryos do not result in babies. Similarly, many sperm selected for ICSI may 'look' good to our human eyes, but not actually be the best sperm in reality.

When using IVF, the sperm need to work at it to fertilise an egg - so most of the weaker sperm, or sperm with an issue fall away. ICSI means you might be injecting in a sperm that wouldn't otherwise have made it, if that makes sense?

It may be you've just got unlucky with the sperm selected this round.

Wishing you best of luck with the rest of this cycle

ICSI success is down to the embryologists skill, I've had 4 egg collections in total all done by ICSI:

1st @ NHS - 5 eggs collected, 3 fertilised, none suitable for transfer
2nd @ NHS - 3 eggs collected, all died during ICSI process
3rd @ private clinic - 3 eggs collected, 3 fertilised, 2 transferred, not successful
4th @ private clinic - 3 eggs collected, 3 fertilised, 2 transferred, now pregnant with twins

Honestly it will be worth asking! Wishing you the best of luck