Stage 3 - insemination / injection of sperm


 

Your semen sample is prepared by separating the normal and active sperm from the ejaculated fluid. Fertilisation during preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) treatment will be done either by:

  • in vitro fertilisation (IVF); or
  • Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI).

    Eggs and sperm in a culture dish


In vitro fertilisation (IVF)

This is used mainly when carrying out PGD treatment for chromosome abnormalities or embryo sexing for X-linked conditions and when the sperm quality is good. During IVF sperm and eggs are placed together in a culture dish to allow fertilisation to occur in the laboratory.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)

Single sperm inside pipette injected into egg ICSI involves injecting a single sperm into the centre of each egg to achieve fertilisation. It is used in PGD treatment for conditions caused by a single faulty gene to reduce the amount of non-embryo DNA (including sperm DNA), which could make the risk of a wrong diagnosis higher.