An infertility treatment in which sperm is injected directly into eggs is being used too often, exposing patients to unnecessary risk and expense, senior doctors said today.

While the procedure, called intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), has revolutionised fertility therapy by allowing men with poor sperm to conceive, clinics are now using it inappropriately, according to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).

ICSI, which is more expensive than standard IVF and carries a slightly higher risk of producing children with birth defects, is now used in 65 per cent of treatment cycles across Europe, figures released by the society today show.

The UK rate of ICSI use is lower, at 43 per cent, but it is much higher in many clinics, particularly in the private sector. The Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre in London, which has Britain's highest success rates, uses ICSI in 77 per cent of treatment cycles.

Professor Anders Nyboe Andersen, the chairman of the ESHRE's IVF monitoring consortium, said that the trend was worrying because there is no evidence that ICSI is the best option for most IVF patients.

It is required for treating serious male-factor infertility, but some studies have suggested that it leads to slightly lower pregnancy rates among other couples, he said. It is more expensive, at a typical cost of £3,000 to £5,000 per cycle compared with £2,000 to £3,000 for standard IVF, and it may carry greater risks.

As ICSI allows conception using sperm that would not normally be capable of fertilising an egg, it can lead to genetic defects. Children born after the procedure have a slightly increased risk of birth abnormalities than those conceived by IVF.

Dr Nyboe Andersen said: “More than half of all ICSI cycles are now done in couples without a diagnosis of severe male-factor infertility. It would appear that some countries are using ICSI excessively compared to IVF, despite the lack of medical evidence that it is beneficial to patients.

“Even within countries with a good national rate, like the UK, there are clinics that are using it much more often. It is more expensive for societies that fund fertility treatment, and for patients who pay privately, yet it doesn't always have benefits and it may even in some cases be less good than standard IVF.”

He said that clinics have often decided to use ICSI because it means they can tell their patients that they have tried everything to help them to conceive. “This is understandable, but except in cases of male-factor infertility, ICSI is unnecessarily complicated and more expensive,” he said.

In the UK, the proportion of IVF conducted with ICSI has risen from 15 per cent in 1995 to 43 per cent in 2005. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority recommends that ICSI be used only when there are problems with a man's sperm, or when fertilisation has failed in a couple's previous attempt at IVF.

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