Donor semen orders may be placed only by the physician’s office or by the patient who has an account with Idant Laboratories.

If you are a physician and would like to open an account, complete the Physician / Clinic Account Application form. Submit the form to IDANT along with a copy of your license. The form and the copy of your license may be faxed to us provided we receive the original paperwork within one week. An account can be opened for you the next business day after we receive these documents.

If you are a patient and want to establish an account in your own name so that you may deal directly with us, complete the Patient T.D.I. Request Application form. The form and the copy of your physician's license may be faxed to us provided we receive the original paperwork within one week. An account can be opened for you the next business day after we receive these documents. Our Accounting Department will contact you for your account number. In the event you change physicians after establishing an account with us, you will need to in- form the laboratory and again complete a new form.

Please note that Idant Laboratories does not accept insurance as payment, but the Idant staff can assist you in completing the insurance claim form for reimbursement. Fertility has been seen by many insurance companies as an "elective" procedure, and not a "disease" of the reproductive system. Please check your insurance policy regarding coverage of these specific services.

3. Can I perform the insemination at home or can this only be done at the doctor’s office?

We require our clients to be under a physician’s care, but the decision to inseminate at home should be decided between you and your physician. However, Idant will only ship to a physician’s office or clinic, unless we receive a written authorization from your physician to ship directly to your home.

IUI (intrauterine insemination) units are semen specimens that are processed (washed) through a density gradient to isolate the most motile and morphologically normal sperm from the other ejaculate contents. Idant uses a two-layer gradient-medium, Isolate^R, to process raw semen samples, which effectively reduces cellular contaminants such as dead sperm, white blood cells, and miscellaneous debris. The resulting sample contains predominantly motile sperm.

IUI procedures have a slightly higher success rate per cycle (about 5% higher), because the sperm cells are placed closer to the fallopian tubes where fertilization usually takes place. Semen must be washed of cellular contaminants for IUI use because raw semen contains prostaglandins which would cause the uterus to contract, sometimes violently. Most physicians will use just one unit of sperm per cycle. These specimens are concentrated into a smaller volume than the ICI specimens, (0.5cc vs 1.0 cc) so that the physician can place the entire volume into the uterus which will only hold 0.5cc.

ICI (intracervical insemination) units are raw semen samples that are not processed further. ICI units are simply cryopreserved with a cryoprotectant medium composed of 12%v/v glycerol, egg yolk, and buffer. These specimens can contain all of the naturally occuring ejaculate fluid and cells. You still receive plenty of motile sperm, but all of the dead sperm as well.

ICI procedures have a bit lower success rate since the sperm cells are placed in the cervix and have further to travel, and many are lost. Many patients undergoing ICI’s will normally use mutiple (2 to 4) units of sperm per cycle.

We recommend that you store at least 15-18 units of semen, which can be derived from three ejaculates or as many as possible prior to your surgery and / or therapy. You should store an amount of semen adequate to provide reasonable assurance of one or two pregnancies. A healthy, fertile woman usually gets pregnant within three months of artificial insemination. However, the average woman does not have ideal fertility, and it often requires three to six months fro her to become pregnant by artificial insemination. Women who are 30-40 years old may require six to nine months (if not more) of artificial insemination. A physician usually performs two or three inseminations per month.

If the units are of good quality, each unit should theoretically contain enough sperm to produce a pregnancy. If the semen is of poor quality, multiple units may be required for each insemination in order to provide a reasonable chance of pregnancy. For extra assurance, particularly if you hope to have several children, you should store as many as 30 units. However, with the advanced reproductive technologies available today, in many cases a thawed specimen with even a few motile sperm can be used to successfully initiate a pregnancy.

The length of time that frozen sperm cells remain viable will vary from patient to patient. There have been normal pregnancies from sperm stored frozen for over 20 years here at Idant. However, studies have indicated that the efficacy of the freezing is questionable when it has been frozen for over 10 years. Each individual's sperm reacts differently to the freezing process. The result of the post-thaw analysis can give you some indication of how your sperm cells react to the freezing process.

All available data indicates that frozen semen does not increase the risk of birth defects. Since the first successful attempt at artificial insemination in humans in 1953, more than 250,000 children have been born from artificial insemination with no increase in birth defects. In fact, the freezing process tends to kill off weaker sperm, and may thus lead to fewer birth defects.

Only one semen sample is processed at a time to avoid specimen mix-ups and labeling errors. Each semen specimen is assigned a unique identification number, which is used to identify the sample during steps of collection, processing, storage, and distribution. For donors and client depositors giving multiple specimens, a secondary code is assigned to distinguish between dates of collection.

Processing areas are cleaned and disinfected with 10% bleach solution after each processing cycle between patients, donors, and client-depositors to prevent infectious disease contamination or cross-contamination.

A directed donor is a donor whose identity is known by the recipient. Directed donors are screened in the same way as anonymous donors. Like an anonymous donor, a directed donor must be tested for HIV 1/2, HTLV-I/II, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis, Chlamydia, and Gonorrhea. In addition, the New York State Department of Health and the American Association of Tissue Banks require that specimens deposited by directed donors be quarantined for a period of at least 180 days and released only after the directed donor is retested and test non-reactive for HIV-1/2, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HTLV-I/II, Syphilis, and Chlamydia.

a. A referral is first required from your physician to make the appointment. We take appointments Monday through Sunday. There is an extra processing charge for Saturday and Sunday appointments. We recommend that the directed donor have a semen analysis performed with cyrosurvival to evaluate the quality of his specimens before proceeding any further.

b. The directed donor and the intended recipient must be present during the initial visit. Both parties are required to complete the directed donor paperwork, which includes the medical, genetic, and sexual history information about the directed donor. Blood and a urine sample is then collected from the directed donor for testing.

c. A technician will then schedule an appointment for a physical examination for the directed donor with one of the physicians affiliated with IDANT.

d. When we receive the results of the testing and physical examination, the directed donor file is then reviewed by the Medical Director and Tissue Bank Director for approval.

e. If the directed donor is approved, he may begin depositing semen. Each semen sample is analyzed, processed, and stored under quarantine. Each semen sample deposited is tested for Neisseria Gonorrhea.

f. Please note that if a directed donor test reactive for any of the tests for infectious diseases or if his ALT levels are outside acceptable levels, IDANT will discard these specimens and will do so without authorization from the depositor or the recipient and need not give prior notice to that effect.

For directed donors who are blood relatives of the recipient's husband, the recipient may waive the quarantine period after being advised by her attending physician of the risks involved in doing so. The recipient is required to complete a Quarantine Waiver form, and her attending physician must complete the Physician Consent to Waive Quarantine form. In such cases, testing for HIV 1/2, HTLV-I/II, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis, Chlamydia, and Gonorrhea must have been performed after a date one month prior to the first donation and every three months thereafter, while the directed donor is engaged in donations. For all other directed donors, semen sample must be quarantined for 180 days.