Fertility Specialist Service
Fertility Specialist Services
Androcryos is a cryogenic depository specialising in the secure storage of human biological material associated with fertility treatment. We service medical fertility specialists, and facilitate scenarios where conventional conception is not an option. By offering a full-function sperm donor program alongside our andrology laboratory, Androcryos fortifies the medical fertility and infertility sector. Artificial insemination is performed upon request from medical practitioners.
At Androcryos we guarantee that all fertility treatment and storage processes are handled in a professional, ethical and discreet manner. We ensure to never forget that our scientific method and technologies are here to serve all the women and men who need help in realising and safeguarding their dream of fostering a family.
Risks To Fertility
Circumstances that negatively affect fertility include high-risk medical treatments, the continual absence of a partner due to career obligations, high-impact sports activities and careers that can either reduce fertility, or result in infertility or death. Men contemplating vasectomies may consider preserving sperm in the likely eventuality that the procedure is irreversible.
In all these situations, it is important to consider what the risks are, and to accommodate you and your partner’s hopes of one day having a child.
Procedures, Tests & Products
Androcryos does medical testing of human biological material relevant to fertility processes, and facilitates medical examinations of insemination recipients where necessary, as well as that of sperm donors.
Male Patients
- full sperm analysis (including and/or excluding Kremer Penetration and culture)
- post-vasectomy sperm count
- sperm culture
- sperm freeze (pre-vasectomy, pre-chemo, pre-radiation)
- testis biopsy freezing
- cryogenic storage of human sperm (short or long term)
- sperm wash for artificial insemination
- serum antibodies (Friberg) CMA3
Female Patients
- serum antibodies
- vaginal swab
- post coital index test
- hormonal profile (LH, FSH and 17B Estradiol, Prog, Prolactin)
- sperm wash for artificial insemination
- Artificial Insemination Husband Sperm (AIH)
- Artificial Insemination Donor Sperm (AID)
- cryogenic storage of human embryos (short or long term)
- donor sperm program
Other
- HIV test
- paternity test
- chromosome studies
Products
- donor sperm (import & export)
- Male Factor-pak specimen collection pouches
- insemination catheters
- embryo transfer catheters
- ICSI (Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection) needles
Health Of Sperm Donor Semen
Sperm donors are carefully screened and tested to ensure that genetically sound and healthy sperm samples are collected for the purpose of artificial insemination procedures.
Physical Examination & Interview
Every donor undergoes a physical examination and interview by a medical doctor. Donors are questioned on their family’s history in terms of diseases and genetic disorders, and a chromosomal study screens for known inheritable diseases and conditions.
Blood Tests
Sperm donor blood is tested for anti-bodies against HIV-I and II as well as hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs AG), hepatitis C (HCV-Ab). A full blood count is done, and is screened for liver enzymes, glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, urea, electrolytes, T-pallidum, and gonorrhoea. Repeat tests for sexually transmissible diseases such as HIV-I & II and hepatitis B & C, are done at regular intervals over the duration of the sperm donation program. This is to ensure that the donor sperm is, and remains, clear of risk diseases.
Six Month Cryogenic Storage
American protocol guidelines ensure that stored semen cannot be released for use in insemination procedures until the sperm donor is cleared of HIV and hepatitis infections for a minimum duration of six months.
Risk Factor
The HIV virus causes AIDS – a very serious infectious disease that destroys the body’s defences against all other infections, as well as a range of malignant tumours. The HIV virus can be transmitted through semen, which means that all possible precautions must be taken to ensure that sperm donors and their semen are clear of the virus.
Despite all these precautions and tests, there will always remain an element of risk that an infectious or hereditary disease is transmitted through artificial insemination.
Sperm Motility
Sample ejaculates from approved donors are analysed before each insemination procedure, and have to meet a minimum first grade quality standard of > 20 x 10 motile cells per ml, with moderate to excellent linear movement (2+/3). 0 represents no motility, 1+ indicates circular, steady movement.
Sperm Donor Attributes
Import & Export
Alongside their blood type and the results of the various screens, tests, and interviews conducted to determine their suitability as sperm donors – a donor’s physical attributes and peculiarities of appearance are documented, as well as any children they may have already fathered.
In instances where there is a second parent, that parent’s features and attributes are matched as closely as possible to those of the sperm donor in an attempt to bring about a genetic resemblance between the child and its parents.
Notes are also made on the sperm donor’s education, occupation, and hobbies to determine their mental and social propensities.
Legal Status
Sperm donors are fully informed on their legal status, and sign affidavits and release forms renouncing all paternal rights and responsibilities. Besides renouncing their parental rights and responsibilities, non-anonymous sperm donors openly reveal their identity, setting up the possibility of contact between the donor, recipient, and subsequent offspring.
