Donor Sperm

Abstract

In the past, if the husband had no sperm in his ejaculate, the only solution was for the wife to have artificial insemination with donor sperm. Since we have developed the ICSI technique, there are now very few couples who would need to consider donor sperm, because the vast majority of previously hopeless cases of male infertility can now be treated successfully with ICSI. In most cases in which ICSI is not successful for dealing with male infertility, it is because of the wife’s eggs, not the sperm. However, there are still a small number of cases in which no sperm at all can be found with TESE-ICSI or in which the sperm are completely abnormal. Therefore, the need for donor sperm banks may have dwindled, but some couples will still have this need. The purpose of this chapter is to explain the process of using donor sperm for couples for whom there is no alternative.