Artificial insemination and in-vitro fertilization using donor spermatozoa: a report on 15 years of experience

Donor insemination (DI) using cryopreserved semen commenced at The RoyalWomen's Hospital in 1976. Over the next 15 years we performed 5953treatment cycles to achieve 816 pregnancies (13.7% per cycle) and 706 livebirths. In-vitro fertilization (IVF) using donor spermatozoa commenced in1986. Over the next 5 years we performed 303 treatment cycles for 185couples. Including subsequent transfer of cryopreserved embryos, a total of33% of couples achieved a successful pregnancy by IVF. Statistical analysisindicated that, for DI pregnancies, the most important semen variable wasthe percentage post-thaw motility, whilst for normal fertilization in IVFit was the pre-freeze motility. These results may be explained by thecompensatory effects of post-thaw processing of spermatozoa for IVF, butnot for DI in our clinic.