Sperm bank

Our Centre has, within the Department of Andrology, even a sperm bank. It consists of a reserve of several samples of semen from the selected sperm donors. The sperm donors are young people, between 18 and 35 years old, and before becoming donors they undergo a strict selection by way of the medical examination, the examination of the seminal liquid and a series of blood tests to ascertain that they are not carriers of any sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, B and C hepatitis, syphilis, etc. or hereditary diseases. About only one candidate out of 20 becomes a donor as a result of this selection.

The sperm is bottled and frozen in liquid nitrogen. The frozen sperm can be stored like this for years.

Every six months, the donors are retested for infectious diseases to ensure that they are not infected in the meantime. Once ascertained that everything is fine, the sperm samples frozen for six months or before the latest inspection may be used.

The Sperm Bank may be addressed by couples where the husband has no sperm (secretory azoospermia), couples where the husband could transmit an inherited disease to the child, or single women.

The insemination with the donor sperm is made by injecting the sperm with a thin tube inside the patient's uterus at the time of ovulation (IUI). This is a painless procedure.

It is also possible to use the donor’s sperm during an in vitro fertilization procedure (IVF).

In the first case (IUI), the success rate is lower (about 20% of pregnancies per attempt), while in the second case (IVF) the success rate is higher (35-40% of pregnancies per attempt).