Did you know that sperm banking can grant you the flexibility to plan your family according to your own timeline?

Yes, you heard that right!

The practice of banking sperm dates back to 1953. It is a process of collecting, freezing and storing sperm cells in a sperm bank for the future. Sperm cells are the reproductive cells produced inside the male testes. For fertilisation to take place, a sperm cell from the male needs to come together with the female egg. This is achieved either through natural means or through Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs)

This blog covers the importance of sperm preservation, its procedure, advantages, and future trends.

Let’s start with the reasons first.

Reasons To Bank Your Sperm

You can decide to bank your sperm for various reasons that may be personal or medical. The main motive is to use them at a later date when you wish to have a biological child. Other reasons include:

1.    Delayed family planning:

If you wish to delay parenthood due to financial reasons or to achieve career goals but are unsure of your future fertility, sperm preservation is a perfect option.

2.    Vasectomy:

Many couples opt for vasectomy as a means of birth control but change their mind later on. Sperm preservation before the procedure gives them the flexibility to have a child even after the procedure.

3.    Medical conditions or illness:

If you’re suffering from diseases like cancer or undergoing cancer treatments, your fertility might get affected as the sperm count goes down significantly. Therefore it’s advisable that you bank your sperm beforehand which can be used later.

4.    High-risk occupations:

The physical demands of certain high-risk jobs like military service can impact your ability to conceive.1 Hence it’s recommended that people working in such occupations preserve their sperm as a backup plan if they want to become a father later in life.

5.    A travelling job:

If you’re a frequent traveller and your partner decides to have a baby when you’re away, using frozen sperm is a feasible option.

6.    Oligospermia:

A low sperm count may make it difficult to conceive by natural means. This can happen even at a young age sometimes. However, banking semen with even low counts of sperm can help in achieving pregnancy using ARTs.

Having learnt about the reasons to bank your sperm, let us move on to its procedure.

Procedure To Bank Sperm

The sperm preservation procedure is relatively simple and quite straightforward. It generally starts with a simple blood test to rule out any Sexually Transmitted Infections. Next, you’re asked to self-collect your semen sample. A small amount of this sample is tested to assess the sperm quality and quantity and also the post-thaw sperm survival rates. Finally, the remaining sperm samples are distributed in special containers called cryovials and preserved.

Now let us move on to the benefits of banking sperm.

Benefits Of Banking Sperm

The primary benefit of banking sperm is to preserve male fertility. Medical treatments like chemotherapy or radiotherapy and environmental toxins can damage male reproductive health. Sperm preservation is like an insurance cover that continues to safeguard it. Freezing sperm in their prime empowers couples to pursue their family planning goals with confidence and security.  Furthermore, the pre-storage tests conducted prior to sperm banking ensure that the babies born from cryopreserved sperm do not inherit any infectious or genetic diseases.

There are also psychosocial benefits to freezing sperm. It gives you peace of mind knowing that you have the flexibility to father a child without being tied down with nature’s timeline – that is, your advancing age.

Now that we’ve covered the perks of sperm preservation, let’s shift our focus to its growth trends.

Future Trends And Innovations In Sperm Preservation

Sperm preservation via freezing or cryopreservation has been recognized as an efficient practice for safeguarding male fertility. Advancements in cryopreservation techniques, such as vitrification, significantly enhance sperm viability (the percentage of live sperm in a sample), therefore improving the chances of successful conception with fertility treatments.

Additionally, there’s a growing focus on genetic screening and sample selection methods, which aim to optimise the quality of stored sperm. According to a report by Data Bridge Market Research, a leading global market research organisation, advancements and increasing awareness of semen preservation options are expected to drive substantial growth and innovation in the sperm banking industry globally.9

Conclusion

Sperm freezing is an invaluable technique for men seeking to defy infertility because of age or medical circumstances. It’s also a perfect choice for those wishing to have a child later in life. However, selecting the right bank to preserve your sperm is pivotal in ensuring the effectiveness and reliability of this process.

LifeCell brings to you SpermVault- India’s 1st and most trusted private sperm bank, which lets you choose from a wide range of storage plans at affordable rates. Moreover, our at-home self-collection kit checks for 11 sperm parameters & 14 sperm conditions to ensure the credibility of stored samples.

So gentlemen, sign up with SpermVault to take charge of your future reproductive health today!

Call us at 1800 266 5533 to know more about it!

FAQs

Q1. Who Can Benefit From Sperm Preservation?

Anyone with a risk of future infertility, such as those undergoing medical treatments like chemotherapy, desiring to delay family planning or seeking to preserve their fertility due to occupational hazards or personal reasons.

Q2. How Long Can Sperm Be Stored In A Sperm Bank?

Sperm can generally be stored for an extended period, often years or even decades, depending on the regulations of the sperm bank.

Q3. What Happens If I Change My Mind About Using Banked Sperm?

If you change your mind about using the banked sperm, you can typically request the sperm bank to discard or donate the samples according to their policies.

Q4. Is Sperm Preservation Covered By Insurance?

Insurance coverage for sperm banking varies widely. It’s advisable to check with your insurance provider for details.

Reference

  1. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/17493-sperm-banking#procedure-details
  2. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/19471.htm
  3. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/11585-conception
  4. https://www.cdc.gov/art/whatis.html
  5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1521693422001791#:~:text=Decreased%20androgen%20level%20or%20action,male%20reproductive%20health%20in%20adulthood.
  6. https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aogs.13562
  7. https://www.publish.csiro.au/rd/fulltext/RD22219#:~:text=The%20two%20most%20popular%20choices,into%20liquid%20nitrogen%20(LN)%3B
  8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/semen-cryopreservation#:~:text=The%20semen%20is%20cultured%20for,their%20prevalence%20in%20the%20community.
  9. https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/fertility-services-market-6281