Overview

Use of Donor sperm has been common for decades and is a well established part of the fertility toolbox. Men from all intellectual, cultural, social, educational and religious backgrounds have and continue to donate sperm. Sperm donors all work with sperm banks, unless you are doing a known donation (ie. The donor is a friend or family member). These sperm banks put the sperm and the donor through extensive testing for sexually transmitted infections, genetics and health and psychological histories. We work with numerous agencies (hyperlink to listing) to provide you with the widest selection of candidates possible.

Why is it done?

Patients may opt to use donor sperm for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons may include:

1. Poor sperm quality
2. High sperm DNA fragmentation
3. Genetic defect(s) in the individual
4. Previous failures with autologous sperm
5. Same sex females
6. Single females

The Basics

Step 1. Decide if you are using a known donor or if you would like an anonymous sample from a sperm bank. If you’re using a known donor, we need to do extensive screening and testing of that person before they can be involved including history and physical, sperm assessment, potentially sperm DNA fragmentation testing, genetic screening and testing and extensive sexually transmitted disease screening and testing.

More commonly, with anonymous sperm donations, typically we refer you to one of our preferred partners for selection of a sperm donor sample. This process involves your web-based selection of a donor that meets your specific criteria including, but not limited to simple characteristics such as hair colour, eye colour, race, height, weight. You may opt for either a known donor where you get to know them or an anonymous donation where there is no contact between you and the donor at any point in the process. The costs associated with selection and acquisition of a donor are strictly between you and whatever agency you choose.

Step 2. Review your donor with our team. We need to make sure that there are no concerns with the donor you are selecting including the risk of viral transmission from something like CMV virus (Cyotmegalovirus) which can impact the pregnancy if the female is negative prior to the insemination.

Step 3. Purchase the sperm and have it shipped to VRC, Windsor, Sarnia, or at our partner clinic in Toronto, the Create Fertility center. We have temperature controlled, alarm monitored tanks to preserve any number of sperm samples.

Step 4. Select which method you would like to use for your insemination including either using your natural egg production, stimulation of your ovaries with oral medications such as letrozole or clomiphene, or injectable medications for controlled ovarian hyperstimulation.

Step 6. Show up for your insemination! The sperm samples are thawed, prepared if necessary and then transferred into your uterus in a painless, gentle process that take approximately 2 minutes in total. For patient comfort and satisfaction we ask you to stay lying down for approximately 15-20 minutes, but studies have never shown a benefit and if you feel comfortable getting up right away, you are free to leave at your leisure. Pregnancy tests are arranged for two weeks later.

Risks

There are no risks from donor sperm as long as the sexually transmitted disease screen is negative, which is checked and double checked before transfer. Sperm banks universally quarantine samples for 6 months and retest the donors to exclude any possibility they were infected at the time of the donation.

Outcomes

Outcomes are generally good! Depending on which mode of ovarian stimulation you chose, you can expect anything from a modest to a relatively high rate of success. If you’re using injectables there are risks of multiple, whereas these are much lower with natural cycles and oral medications.
If you’d like to learn more, don’t hesitate to contact us for a detailed discussion of your options.