What Are Fresh Sperms?
Fresh sperms in the context of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) are sperms put into use immediately after ejaculation, or within the timeframe of a few hours post ejaculation.
Storing the sperm in laboratory conditions and freezing for later uses aren’t employed while proceeding with an IVF using fresh sperm.
A benefit obtained while opting for fresh sperm is that it can be utilized in standard IVF or Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection ICSI. In simple words, flexibility in operation is enhanced.
What Are Frozen Sperms?
In the context of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), frozen sperms refer to sperms that have been collected, cryopreserved, and stored at a ridiculously low temperature. In some cases, this approach could be a substitute for fresh insemination while in other cases, could be a first-hand approach.
Usually, the preservation is done in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees Celsius. Frozen sperm IVF allows greater room for flexibility as immediate use isn’t needed.
Fresh Sperm vs. frozen Sperm
A pregnancy is achieved when a perfectly healthy sperm meets with an ovum, leading to slow and gradual growth and development of a baby.
Undoubtedly, the natural method of pregnancy is typically how babies are made, some couples fail to conceive through this approach, being left with options such as IVF.
This article aims to educate you on how the IVF approach is bettered through the usage of fresh sperm vs frozen sperm.
Is Fresh Sperm Better Than Frozen For IVF?
The word “fresh” is such a powerful word, isn’t it? An immediate assumption while hearing fresh vs frozen would be that fresh surely overpowers greatly! However, the case isn’t so when we discuss if fresh sperm is better than frozen in an IVF.
Let’s proceed statistically, shall we? A study relating to IVF published that, the results comparing the use of quality fresh sperm versus frozen ejaculated sperm for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), came out as 61.5% vs 52.6% respectively.
Although an 8.9% difference is notable, the figure doesn’t picture a very drastic difference. Speaking in a greater frame, if a larger survey population was taken, the difference between the outcomes of using fresh sperm vs frozen frozen would be even lesser.
The conclusion that can be derived is that the frozen approach is rather a substitute for fresh sperm and that using fresh sperm for IVF is just a little bit better than using frozen sperm.
How Could Frozen Sperm For IVF Be Advantageous Over Fresh Sperm?
Fresh sperm as discussed above is slightly more reliable in IVF due to a higher rate of conception, yet the frozen sperm method is advantageous if the concern is flexibility. The following reasons make the best use of frozen sperm:
- If the male cannot be available during the day of egg retrieval due to any reason, the sperm can be frozen way earlier before egg retrieval day.
- Males soon to undergo treatments like chemotherapy can store their sperm beforehand for future use. Certain medical undertakings may pose a threat to healthy fertility in males, hence freezing sperm turns out handy.
- An anonymous donation of frozen sperm to unmarried women, same-sex women or couples failing to conceive benefit greatly.
