For males about to start medical treatment that may affect your future fertility, consider these factors:

Before you have your treatment.

Treatment of certain types of medical conditions including cancer in men can have permanent effects on a man’s ability to have a child in the future. Some forms of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy can affect the body’s ability to produce sperm in the future. The effects that treatment might have vary according to the type of cancer or medical problem that you have and the type of treatment and how an individual reacts to treatment. Your treating specialist can give you information as to how this might affect you.

Reproductive Insurance

Rather than giving up the option of being a father or extending your family, there is an alternative available. Men can freeze one or more samples of semen in a short time frame before having their treatment performed. These samples can then be stored as a form of “reproductive insurance,” so that when your life circumstances change and a child is wanted, you might have this chance.

Creating a Will

When you sign a consent for your gametes (semen) to be frozen, it is very important that you have a WILL made or amend your WILL to indicate both your intentions for use or disposal of your reproductive tissues (sperm) in the event of your and/or your partner’s death. Particularly, you should indicate your agreement (or otherwise), that your partner or family have future access to these tissues in your absence.

For full details on semen freezing and associated costs, please view our Semen Freezing page.

What if I do decide to have a child?

The chance of achieving a pregnancy with your frozen sample depends on the quality of the sample and the fertility of your partner (the largest predictor of this is the female age). Fertility rates with frozen samples are lower than with fresh semen, so we require that your partner be assessed by a fertility specialist.

The fertility specialist will then recommend one of the following options:

• Placing the sample in the woman’s uterus (womb) during the fertile time in her natural cycle (known as intra-uterine insemination/IUI)
• Using fertility stimulating medicines to increase the chance of success with intrauterine insemination
• IVF (in-vitro fertilization) where the semen sample is mixed with eggs obtained from the woman with a surgical procedure
• ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) where individual sperm are injected directly into eggs obtained from the woman with a surgical procedure

How Much Does Sperm Freezing Cost?

We understand that if you are facing cancer treatment, further medical expenses are a real concern.

We offer the following services for free –

• Registration with the clinic should future fertility treatment be required
• Semen analysis

This would normally cost around $450 but we do not charge you for this.

We do ask you to pay an initial fee to cover the cost for freezing your sample, which includes the first 12 months or part thereof for storage and producing a report for your doctor. Please call the clinic for this cost.

Provided you maintain annual contact with the clinic, we will provide you with semen storage at half the normal yearly fee.

PLEASE NOTE: Fees apply for fertility treatments if the sperm is used, or if the samples are transferred to another laboratory/fertility clinic at your request.

What do I need to do next?

Contact Fertility Solutions to arrange an appointment with one of our scientists. They will answer your questions, give you everything that you need and arrange a time to assess your sample.

We also have a psychologist available to discuss any concerns with you further, please ask for more details.

How To Arrange For This Test

Your local GP or Specialist can arrange for you to have this test at Fertility Solutions. You do not require a referral, although it is preferable if you have one. Phone the clinic in advance to book an appointment on 07 5441 7311 (Sunshine Coast) or 07 4151 5222 (Bundaberg).

We request that you provide us with your GP and/or Specialist contact details so we can send a copy of your results to them.

If you do not have a collection kit we can arrange for one to be sent to you.

There will be a cost for initial freezing of the semen. You will be informed of this on the day you phone to book your appointment. Please let reception know if you would like to use our on site, private collection room.

We strive to:

• Make you feel welcome at all times
• Listen to your questions and concerns
• Work with you to fulfill your future desire to create your family

If you would like to book an appointment to discuss semen freezing, please contact us. You may also be interested in learning more about our Semen Analysis Test or donating sperm.