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While the major application of sperm banking today is for donor insemination, sperm banking is also useful in a number of other areas as well. Thus, we can store and freeze husband's sperm samples for treating the wife, and this is very useful in the following circumstances:
When the husband has situational erectile dysfunction, so that he cannot produce a semen sample by masturbation at the appropriate time of an IUI or IVF cycle, storing a sample is very useful. This frozen sample can be used as a backup, in case the man cannot produce a sample at the required time. However, in many cases, because the man knows that a frozen sample is available, this helps to take the pressure off, so that many of them can produce a fresh sample with little difficulty!
When the husband is away (working overseas or traveling), his frozen sample can be used to treat his wife.
For men with very variable sperm counts, it can be helpful to store the "good samples", so that these can be used. Unfortunately, pooling many frozen samples together does not help to increase the sperm quality.
For men with cancers, sperm freezing offers them a chance of conserving their reproductive potential. Cancer treatment often renders young men sterile, because it wipes out sperm production. However, semen samples can be frozen and stored prior to starting treatment, and these can then be used when needed. Since these sperm are worth their weight in gold they are best used for ICSI (microinjection) treatment only.
© Dr. Aniruddha Malpani and Dr. Anjali Malpani www.drmalpani.com
Credits: How to Have a Baby: Overcoming Infertility
