DONOR SPERM AND SCREENING INFO FROM A DENVER FERTILITY CLINIC

Pregnancy can be achieved for patients who experience infertility, due to abnormal or absent sperm, by using donor sperm. Donor sperm can also help single women and women in same sex relationships to conceive. Patients who desire fertility using donor sperm are able to choose sperm through a certified sperm bank, where donors have been properly screened and the sperm has been frozen for at least 6 months.  Once a patient has selected a suitable donor, a frozen sample of the sperm is shipped to a fertility clinic for storage then used during treatment cycles.

The use of donor sperm, whether from an anonymous donor or known donor, should follow the same criteria and basic guidelines. The screening process is essential and there are several important screenings that should take place. Typically using a known sperm donor will be considerably more expensive.

Screening for Genetic Disease Risk

The sperm that a patient selects contributes to half of the genetic make-up for the future child.  

Sperm donors are screened for genetic diseases and familial genetic illnesses based upon their ethnicity. Each sperm bank tests for different genetic disorders so it is best to check with the sperm bank you wish to use to determine what genetic screening tests are performed.

Infectious diseases may be found in semen and cause severe problems to the mother or baby if they get infected at the time of insemination.  Sperm can carry HIV, Hepatitis or Cytomegalovirus, all of which can have severe health consequences on the mother and child.

The FDA regulates the screening of sperm donors and  requires that all sperm donors be screened and tested for infectious disease prior to donation. Sperm must be held in quarantine for six months and the donor must then be retested after the 6 month quarantine to be sure that no new communicable diseases have showed up since the time of donation.

Screening for Semen Quality and Parameter

In order to determine the quality of the sperm it must be fully tested by a lab at a

qualified sperm bank. A semen analysis is a type of test that informs the doctor of the number of sperm in the semen, whether they are normal in shape, and how well they move.