Since 1995 - Non Profit Healthcare Advice

Semen Sample

09/18/2008

Question:

My wife and I underwent an IVF cycle earlier this year which resulted in a 1st trimester miscarriage. We still have many frozen embryos from that cycle that are at the 5 day blastocyst stage. We are planning on using these in attempting to achieve pregnancy for our next cycle. I know that most likely a random chromosomal event occured that resulted in the miscarriage, but I am worried about other factors regarding the semen sample I provided for the cycle, which may have contributed.

I`m worried that when I provided the semen sample for IVF, I placed it for a few minutes next to my laptop and I`m worried that the heat from it may have caused some damage. I also didn`t put the sample in the incubator provided right away because I took my time assessing the volume, checking the label, etc. Could it being near the laptop (and potentially exposed to heat) or out in room temperature caused some damage, which could result in future miscarriages? The sperm was washed and I`m not sure if this would necessarily `wash` out damaged sperm.

I also read today that a decreased time from stimulation to ejaculation can decrease semen quality, and when I provided my sample, it happened very quickly. Is this something I need to worry about?

Essentially, I want to know if there is any factors that ccould have affected the semen sample after collection and caused genetic damage. I know that I am excessively worrying about this, and let me know if this is the case. Thank you.

Answer:

It is unlikely that any factors involved in collection or transport of your specimen would genetically affect the resultant embryos from IVF.  From your history of IVF with successful conception (although this ended in a miscarriage), as well as frozen blastocysts, it sounds as if your cycle went quite well.  I would recommend proceeding with frozen embryo transfer.

For more information:

Go to the Infertility health topic.