Motility Guarantee
jennifermarinas
Posts: 10
Hi... I purchased 2 ICI vials of DONOR 12727. I had my back to back insemination done yesterday and today. Here are the sperm analysis given by my RE:
1st Vial:
Volume (mL) - 0.8 mL
Concentration - 50 million
Pre-wash Motility - 32%
Post-wash Concentration - 22 million
Post-wash Motility - 84.09%
Total Motile Sperm - 8.33 million
2nd Vial:
Volume (mL) - 0.9 mL
Concentration - 54 million
Pre-wash Motility - 29%
Post-wash Concentration - 19 million
Post-wash Motility - 81.05%
Total Motile Sperm - 7.7 million
Motility especially on the 2nd vial is low and we're worried of the insemination result due to the numbers. Please explain.
Thank you.
1st Vial:
Volume (mL) - 0.8 mL
Concentration - 50 million
Pre-wash Motility - 32%
Post-wash Concentration - 22 million
Post-wash Motility - 84.09%
Total Motile Sperm - 8.33 million
2nd Vial:
Volume (mL) - 0.9 mL
Concentration - 54 million
Pre-wash Motility - 29%
Post-wash Concentration - 19 million
Post-wash Motility - 81.05%
Total Motile Sperm - 7.7 million
Motility especially on the 2nd vial is low and we're worried of the insemination result due to the numbers. Please explain.
Thank you.
0
Comments
"Hi Chaveece -
That sounds a little low, although counts can certainly vary from lab to lab. Here are the specifics of our specimen guarantee:
http://www.cryobank.com/Why-Use-Us/Specimen-Quality-Standards/
You should have your physician fill out the form included with your shipment. If your pregnancy is not successful, please contact Melonee, our Client Relations Manager, at mevans@cryobank.com or by phone at 866-927-9622 x 1240. She will be glad to help you.
Good luck,
Scott"
CCB
There is a lot of confusion over what to expect from lab testing on your vial. Here are some basic facts to help clarify:
CCB vials standards are based on total motile sperm. They are not tied to specific motility or concentration. The total motile count is motility times concentration. A standard IUI vial should contain a minimum of 10 million total motile sperm post thaw. This number varies 20-30% due to counting technique, the individual counting, and the amount of time a specimen has been thawed.
For example, we use a device called a Makler Chamber which allows for greater depth of field in counting. As a result, we are looking at a three dimensional drop of sperm. Many clinics use a system that relies on disposable slides that sandwich the specimen, flattening it out. When you squish a drop of liquid between two slides (remember high school biology?), the result is much of the liquid is pushed to the edges. If you are focused only on the middle of that slide, you will not see a good percentage of the actual sample that is out of focal range. This accounts for a documented 30% lower count than the Makler.
All IUI vials contain .5 ml and ICI vials contain 1 ml. We use calibrated instruments that can only deliver a set amount of sperm into the vial. Volume measurements by labs are often inexact and should not be factored into the equation.
Normal motility is anything above 20%. In the post above, both the pre-wash and post-wash numbers exceed this norm. Sperm also takes some time to "wake up". As a result, motility actually increases after insemination as more sperm come to life in their ideal 98.6 degree environment. You would much rather have sperm under-thawed prior to insemination. If they are over-warmed, they will die quickly. In short, there is no motility issue in the numbers listed.
Most importantly -- published studies show that an increase in the total motile number of sperm above 5 million does NOT increase pregnancy rates. In other words, 5 million and 50 million give you the same chance of success. The reason we use 10 million as our standard for IUI vials is it is double the amount you actually need.
In general, we get less than 2% of our specimens reported as substandard. Of those reports, well over 50% repeatedly come from less than a dozen of the same clinics that have counting differentials from our lab. Keep in mind these clinics are using the exact same donors as the thousands of others that report virtually no sub-standard findings. It's not that they are doing anything wrong, it's just a different counting method that returns fairly consistent off-set results.
This is a lot of info to ultimately say, you have nothing to worry about. You numbers are right where they need to be and your vials are perfectly capable of contributing to a successful pregnancy. Good luck!
Scott
CCB