What is sperm freezing?
Sperm freezing is a method of cryopreserving sperm for future use in IVF treatments. Sperm freezing can be used to counter an expected future decrease in sperm quality due to illness or medical treatment, or frozen sperm can be used to transfer the sperm of a man who is unable to go travel to the clinic where his partner is to undergo IVF.
Collected or retrieved sperm is analysed, divided into smaller batches and then transferred into vials. The sperm is combined with a cryoprotectant fluid and gradually frozen in liquid nitrogen vapour. After about 1 hour, they are stored in liquid nitrogen containers for long term storage.
Sperm is thawed at room temperature by diluting it with water until nothing remains of the cryoprotective fluid. It can then be used to fertilize an egg through the process of ISCI.
