Sperm Freezing

At Concept we have a dedicated cryopreservation storage facility to allow us to freeze and store sperm on site. Freezing your sperm – whether for medical or other reasons – can preserve your fertility and provide you with options in the future.

Why freeze sperm?

The freezing and storage of sperm is undertaken for many reasons:

Pre-Vasectomy

Men may store sperm before undergoing vasectomy or to safeguard if plans change in the future. Vasectomies should be considered irreversible as repair of this surgery may be unsuccessful or accompanied by a significant reduction in normal fertilising capacity of sperm.

Pre-Chemotherapy

Sperm freezing prior to treatment can provide peace of mind in an otherwise difficult time, and a chance for future use, if this is something that you wish to do.

Pre-Gender Affirmation

Fertility preservation via sperm freezing is an excellent option for those affirming their gender and/or undergoing hormone replacement therapy.

Although fertility may not be a current consideration when taking steps toward gender affirmation; gamete freezing is a simple way to ensure that important decisions can be made should children become a consideration in the future.

Sperm Donation

Sperm donors can be anonymous or known to recipients. In both cases, sperm donors are health screened for infectious diseases twice: prior to the freezing of sperm and again six months later to ensure that no latent infection was present at the time of freezing.

Management of Assisted Reproductive Treatment

For some couples undergoing treatment, sperm freezing is a convenient option to ensure that treatment can proceed unhindered.

Storing sperm for these couples can assist in two circumstances:

• For men who find semen collection on request a difficult exercise, it allows artificial insemination to be performed without the complication of managing the sperm collection procedure at the time of insemination
• For men who are not readily available when their partner has reached their fertile window (e.g., FIFO)

How is sperm collected?

A semen collection container is provided to the patient to collect the sperm sample. Samples can be produced in either the private men’s rooms at Concept Fertility or within the patient’s home if this is preferred.

There are a couple of important things to note for sperm collection:

• Samples must be delivered to the clinic within an hour to ensure the quality is maintained. It should also not be exposed to extreme temperature (heat or cold) and should ideally be kept at room temperature
• Before producing your sample, it is recommended that you abstain from ejaculation for at least two days, but no more than seven days prior to sperm collection
  
• Couples that have religious convictions, special condoms which are not toxic to sperm can be purchased at Concept Fertility
  

Those unable to produce via any of the above methods are encouraged to speak with a fertility specialist about the possibility of surgical sperm retrieval as an alternative.

How is sperm frozen?

1. The semen sample is mixed with a special freezing cryoprotectant.
   
2. The mixture is then drawn up into coloured plastic straws and sealed with a coloured plug.
   
3. The straws are then labelled with the name and unique file number of the patient before undergoing a special freezing process.
   
4. Once frozen, the straws are stored at -196°C in liquid nitrogen within specialised storage tanks.
   
5. These straws can remain frozen in these tanks indefinitely

How many sperm samples do I freeze?

This differs between individuals, so it is recommended to speak with an embryologist following your first freeze to assess the number of samples required to best suit your needs. This estimate will be based on your post-thaw rate (health of your sperm following freezing and thawing) and intentions of use.