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History – Dr. Silber invented microsurgical sperm retrieval and ICSI, and was the first to introduce ICSI to the United States.
Low sperm counts and azoospermia used to be considered the one infertility problem which IVF could not treat successfully. Then in 1992, Dr. Silber and his colleagues invented MESA, TESE, and ICSI. This revolutionized IVF and the treatment of the severest male infertility. [watch video here]
ICSI
If there is a question of the sperm’s ability to fertilize the egg, due to either a low sperm count or poor quality of the sperm, that poses no problem whatsoever. Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) would be performed instead of regular IVF. We actually were part of the original Belgian team that developed ICSI, and first introduced it to the U.S. We can take a single, almost non-moving “dead” appearing sperm and inject it into a woman’s egg, getting a normal embryo and a completely normal baby. So far, over a million babies have been born with this new technique, from men who were otherwise considered hopelessly sterile. The babies are physically, mentally, and genetically normal, no matter how poor or miserable the sperm of the father.
We can take a man who would otherwise have to resort to donor sperm, and if we can find just a few weak sperm in his otherwise sterile appearing ejaculate, it is more than enough to microsurgically inject these few sperm into his wife’s eggs, fertilize them normally, and get her pregnant.
If there is absolutely no sperm in the ejaculate, we can perform a microsurgically precise testicle biopsy, remove the few non-moving sperm that we find through a highly refined ultra micropipette, inject it into the wife’s egg and still get her pregnant. Even in testicles where allegedly there is no sperm production, we can usually (but not always) find a few sperm, which is enough for successful ICSI. Even in cases where we find no sperm, we can safely freeze the wife’s eggs and save them for a future date when further breakthroughs will allow us to find sperm.
Dr. Silber is world leader & pioneer of the most widely used in vitro fertilization techniques. His patients fly in long from distances all over the world for treatment at his fertility center and, he is happy to take care of the most difficult cases with warm personal attention and great technical skill.
How ICSI Works
With ICSI, the eggs are retrieved the same as if you were doing conventional IVF. However, the eggs and the sperm are then fertilized in the laboratory, by direct injection of a single sperm into each egg. Two to five days later the resulting embryos are simply placed into your uterus with no surgery, just as with IVF. Extra embryos are frozen for later allowing for much less expensive attempts at pregnancy, using the Japanese vitrification freezing technique which does no harm at all to the embryos.
If you have any questions, you may call us at (314) 576-1400.
Immobilizing the sperm’s tail before picking it up. 
Injection of sperm into the egg.
