# How does ICSI overcome egg and sperm compatibility?



## purr317

Hi Crystal 

Its been really interesting reading some of your replies and really helpful. Hope you can answer this question before you finish!  

As my DH has low motility but high sperm count, we were told that ICSI was the best option and if there was a problem with sperm and egg bonding due to antibodies that ICSI would overcome the problem. Had a high fertalisation rate of 8 out of 9 eggs and 5 good quality, which had two put bk (early m/c) and 3 frozen so no problems once the egg and sperm come into contact but does this also mean that we do not have any immune issues to worry about if no problem fertilising. At bit confused at moment with this issue.    Please Help!

Thank you


Purr


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## CrystalW

purr317 said:


> Hi Crystal
> 
> Its been really interesting reading some of your replies and really helpful. Hope you can answer this question before you finish!
> 
> As my DH has low motility but high sperm count, we were told that ICSI was the best option and if there was a problem with sperm and egg bonding due to antibodies that ICSI would overcome the problem. Had a high fertalisation rate of 8 out of 9 eggs and 5 good quality, which had two put bk (early m/c) and 3 frozen so no problems once the egg and sperm come into contact but does this also mean that we do not have any immune issues to worry about if no problem fertilising. At bit confused at moment with this issue.  Please Help!
> 
> Thank you
> 
> Purr


Hello Purr,

I can understand that it is confusing - we often use very similar terms for different things.

Some men can have antibodies to their own sperm - this is detected by a MAR or immunobead test. This means that the sperm will clump together and not be able to get to the egg and bind with it. In these cases we do ICSI to overcome this problem.

The other immune/antibodies problems we talk about tend to be with the womens immune systems -there are some ideas that some women are effectively `immune` to their embryos and this means their bodies reject them and there is no implantation. This is still all unproven (see HFEA website for more info), although many clinics offer testing and treatment in the form of steroids or IVIG. If someone has had several unsuccessful cycles then this is something that many clinics may suggest testing for.

Best wishes


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## purr317

Hi

Thanks for answering my question. Has helped me a bit to understand this confusing topic.


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