More ICSI With IVF---Is It Medically Justified?

I found the following article about how ICSI (when the sperm is injected directly into the egg) is being used even when there is no diagnosis of male factor infertility. Of course this procedure comes with a high price tag and, as the article discusses, it may be of questionable benefit. Read more:

ICSI Male Infertility Treatment Up
Dramatic 5-Fold Increase Coupled With IVF During Last Decade
By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Medical News

From the article:

In 1995, just 11% of IVF cycles included ICSI, but the percentage had risen to 57.5% a decade later.

The report appears in the July 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The findings suggest ICSI is increasingly being used in conjunction with IVF for conditions other than male-factor infertility, says researcher Tarun Jain, MD, who is an assistant professor of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Jain tells WebMD that it is not clear if the benefits derived from ICSI justify the added cost and potential risks for couples without a diagnosis of male infertility.

“Those studies haven’t been done,” he says. “More research is needed to determine if routine use of ICS for nonmale factor conditions is beneficial.”