IVF with sperm donation?


Couples who are faced with male-factor infertility, such as aspermia or azoospermia, may find IVF with sperm donation a suitable treatment. Treatment uses donor sperm to fertilize collected eggs before implanting resulting embryos into the uterus in a conventional IVF procedure. Additional eggs than required for treatment can be fertilized using donor sperm during the IVF process. The extra embryos will be cryopreserved for use in consequent IVF treatment cycles. The sperm donor may be a friend or family member, or an anonymous donor matched to the recipient by the sperm bank or fertility clinic. Anonymous donors can be selected according to physical characteristics such as ethnicity, skin color and height. Donors are also screened against genetic and sexual disease.

Treatment, Step by step

1. The recipient couple is screened for infectious diseases like Hepatitis B & C, HIV and for sexually transmitted disease like syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia.

2. A sperm donor will be found to match the physical characteristics, such ethnicity, height, eye color and hair color of the male partner. Sperm donors, whether anonymous or known to the recipient, are screened against infectious diseases, genetic medical conditions, and sexually transmitted diseases that could be transmitted to the newborn.

3. The recipient woman is given ovary-stimulating fertility drugs to prepare her eggs for collection. Mature eggs increase the success rates of fertilization using IVF. Hormones and egg development are monitored regularly by ultrasounds and blood tests to ensure eggs are collected at optimum maturation. The lining of her uterus will thicken to prepare for the embryo transfer.

4. When the patient’s eggs are ready to be collected, they are retrieved with a thin needle that uses suction to remove the follicles individually from the ovaries.

5. Collecting or retrieving sperm: If donor sperm is being used, then the selected sperm will have been thawed and prepared that same morning. Some clinics may only use freshly donated sperm, in which case the sperm would be donated the same day as the egg retrieval.

6. Fertilization: Once the sperm and egg are collected, they are usually combined using ICSI to assist the fertilization process. ICSI injects the sperm into the centre of the egg.  Resulting embryos are   monitored and when the cells have multiplied sufficiently, the embryo can be transferred into the recipients uterus.

7. Embryo transfer: The embryo transfer can occur 1-5 days after fertilization occurs. It is common for fertility specialists to transfer embryos on the same day as fertilization occurs allowing recipients to undergo the procedure on an outpatient basis. Day 5 embryo transfers increase the success rate of implantation into the uterus as the transferred embryo is at its blastocyst stage. This means the embryo is mature and at a stage similar to when natural implantation would occur. Day 5 embryo transfer can decrease the risk of multiple pregnancies as embryos that have matured to blastocyst stage are less likely to split. 

8. Insemination: Embryos are implanted using a catheter. The catheter is inserted through the cervix and using ultrasound, doctors implant the embryo into the thickened uterus lining. 










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