Q. We are undergoing infertility treatment. Will this treatment cause birth defects in our child?

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and medically reviewed by iCliniq medical review team.

Published on Mar 06, 2015 and last reviewed on: Oct 09, 2018

Patient's Query

Hello doctor,

My wife is 24 years old and she has PCOD. We have been trying to conceive for the past 2 years, but no result. We went to infertility specialist six months ago. He started the treatment through medicines and one IUI. But, all the treatments failed. Then, he decided to go for IVF. Our doctor said that my semen sample is normal. In this IVF cycle 15 eggs were retrieved. Out of the 15 eggs they decided 8 eggs for IVF and 7 eggs for ICSI. Later, the doctor said that all 8 IVF eggs failed to be fertile because egg layer was very strong and And all the 5 eggs with ICSI are fertile. He transferred two embryos today and said that the embryo quality is good. Is ICSI a safe process? Will it affect the IQ of the baby or cause any birth defect? What about the fertility status during their adulthood? And finally, why is egg layer so thick?

Answer

Dr. Dattaprasad Balasaheb Inamdar

Infertility Obstetrics And Gynaecology

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I can understand your concerns.

ICSI (Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection) is the procedure in which a single sperm is selected and injected into an egg.

ICSI is associated with a very negligible increase in birth defects (For example: rate of birth defects with natural conception in infertile couple if considered around 3%, with ICSI it will be around 3.1%).

ICSI does not affect a child's IQ at all.

Regarding whether a child will have any problem in adulthood, it depends on the genetic make up of the couple. Through ICSI, the same genes are transmitted to the baby.

ICSI procedure as such, does not lead to any problem in adulthood of the baby conceived (same applies to the fertility and the child should not face any additional problem).