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Semen and Embryo Freezing

Semen cryopreservation (the freezing of sperm) is a way to store sperm for future use. Sperm is routinely frozen and maintained in the Center for Reproductive Medicine Andrology Laboratory. Your physician or another member of your health-care team will work with the Andrology Laboratory to arrange for semen cryopreservation, should you decide to participate in this process. In practice, frozen sperms are stored at the temp. of -196°C in liquid nitrogen.
We can now also offer egg freezing for women who wish to delay childbearing, and who want to preserve their fertility for the future. Although the freezing of embryos has been quite reliable, the freezing of eggs was for a long time only experimental, and, until recently, not very successful.

Sperm cryopreservation Indications

• Semen for auto conservation and
• Donor semen

Who should consider semen cryopreservation ?

• Radio or chemotherapy – which might lead to sterility
• Surgical sterilization by vasectomy "short – term" storage of sperm can be useful in case of ...
• stress with regard to collection of semen on demand on the day of IUI or IVF
• Absent husband during the wife's treatment and
• Large variations in individual sperm quality.

Sperm Banking at our Centre

Cryobanks are the vehicles used to realize the clinical and research application of cryopreserved cells . A most important component of sperm bank is its usefulness to infertile couple. Here at our centre following facilities are available.

• 'Long-term' & 'short term' semen cryopreservation
• Concentration for oligozoospermia
• Standard and pre-processed Anyonymous donor semen bank.

Embryo Freezing or Vitrification

Cryopreservation of the embryos is an important component of routine assisted reproductive programs (IVF). Cryopreservation of surplus embryos increases the opportunity for patients to conceive and improves the cumulative pregnancy rates. Recently, IVF centres in many countries have reduced the number of embryos that are transferred into the uterus to two or even one. With this, many embryos are available for freezing.
Efficient embryo cryopreservation has several advantages. It helps to reduce costs and increases cumulative pregnancy rates.

• Cryopreservation of embryos has greatly enhanced the preganancy rate and cumulative conception rate possible for a couple following a single cycle of ovarian stimulation and IVF.
• Possibility of avoiding fresh embryo transfer in stimulated cycles with a potential for ovarian hyperstimulaton syndrome.
• Factors which jeopardize implantation like bleeding, unfavourable endometrium, polyps or extremely difficult embryo transfer.
• Women who are undergoing chemo or radio therapy.
• Excess embryo per cycle.

What is Vitrification ?

Vitrification is the Solidification of solution into a glassy vitrified state. Vitrification of water inside cells can be achieved by Increasing the speed of temperature conduction. Use of high concentration of cryoprotectant helps to bring extremly high viscosity during cooling.
This new technique of freezing called "vitrification" avoids the damage caused by ice forming inside the cell by not trying to pull every last molecule of water out, because it is impossible to do this 100%. In fact, 70% of the cell is water, and at best you can reduce that to 30%. So with the conventional controlled rate slow-freezing technique, there is always going to be some intra-cellular ice crystal formation, causing some damage to embryos, and severely damaging most eggs. Vitrification uses a super high concentration of antifreeze (DMSO and ethylene glycol), and drops the temperature so rapidly that the water inside the cell never becomes ice. It just instantaneously super-cools into a solid with no ice crystal formation at all. Using this vitrification technique for freezing, we can reliably preserve eggs as well as embryos so that the pregnancy rate is no different than if the eggs or embryos had never been frozen. This allows us to preserve the fertility of young women for the future if they wish to delay childbearing, but not lose their fertility as they age.

Vitrificaiton Benefits

• Direct contact between cells / tissue and Liq.N2
• No ice crystallization
• Utilizes higher concentration of cyroprotectant that allows shorter exposure time to the cryoprotectant.
• Rapid vitrification / warming.
• Small volume used provides a significant increase in the cooling rate.
• Cooling rates from -15000 to 30000C / min
• Minimizes osmotic injuries
• Reduces the time of cryopreservation procedure (duration from 2 to 10 mins)
• Very simple protocols
• Eliminates the cost of expensive programmable freezing equipment.