TMC

MountainDewBugMountainDewBug Posts: 47
in Ask California Cryobank
When a vial is purchased and sent to the doctors office and then they do what they do to it and then tell you before the iui what the tmc is, say 17 million or 12 million or whatever number. In reading from the american andrology site it says this:

If the TMC is 20 million sperm or less, there is likely to be a 'significant' male factor problem. Men with a TMC consistently less than 5 million are said to have 'severe' male factor infertility.

Can you offer some more insite, details, ect on this? I've never seen a vial that i have purchased have more then 20 million and after reading this i am left to think that is not a good thing.

Comments

  • cryo-admincryo-admin Posts: 4,547
    Hi Bug -

    That would be based on a male's full ejaculate. Our donations are most often split into multiple vials. In general, all our donors maintain above average count, motilty, and morphology (which all adds up to TMC).

    The reason 5 million is used as the cut-off for "severe" infertility is that studies show 5 million is the average minimum necessary for pregnancy. In actuality, there has never been a study to suggest that any more than 5 million increase the odds of conception. Basically, either there are enough sperm or not enough sperm. More sperm beyond the 5 million mark does not increase the odds of success.

    Regardless of the TMC, the timing of the insemination is very important as thawed sperm only survive in utero about 12-24 hours (versus fresh sperm that can survive up to 72 hours).

    Our IUI TMC guarantee is 10 million. As long as your number is above that, your vials are completely fine.

    Good luck,

    Scott
    CCB
  • MountainDewBugMountainDewBug Posts: 47
    I understand. Thank you for explaining it to me in more detail.
  • aandv1223aandv1223 Posts: 20
    I was wondering the same thing. But what if the vial is under 10 million? What happens then?
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