Our Directed Donor Screening Process Preparing to Make a Sperm Deposit

By participating in PRS' Directed Donor Program, you can be assured you will receive the sperm banking field's highest level of donor screening and testing to reduce health risks to the recipient and her baby and to assess the fertilizing potential of your sperm. We exceed all federal and state donor testing regulations as well as standards set by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and the tissue banking industry. We also conduct the most advanced donor genetics screening and testing in the sperm banking field.

Your screening process will involve the following steps:

• You or your recipient will call to schedule your first appointment, which will be conducted by phone. It includes a review of you and your family's' personal medical and social history over four generations. We will send you the forms to complete and return to us prior to this appointment.
• Pending the results of the phone interview, you may be scheduled for a second appointment at PRS for a complete physical examination and testing of blood and urine for infectious and hereditary diseases. You will also make your first sperm deposit, which will be analyzed for sperm count and motility and then frozen for future use. A small portion of your frozen sperm will then be analyzed day for sperm count and motility after freezing (the freezing and thawing process affects the quality of sperm). Please be sure to read Preparing to Make a Sperm Deposit in order to get the best results.
• The results of the physical examination, laboratory tests and semen analysis will be reviewed by a PRS clinician and a determination will be made regarding your eligibility under government regulations. These results will then be reported to you and your recipient when completed.
• Additional sperm deposits may be arranged after the approval process is complete.
• Sperm Quarantine: Sperm bank regulations require that your sperm is either held in quarantine for 180 days, after which you would again undergo required infectious disease testing or that the infectious disease testing is performed within seven days of any donation date. If the latter testing method is chosen, you may be required to have repeat testing if you are making additional sperm deposits.

About the approval process

Health Requirements
Donor eligibility determination is made incompliance with federal and state regulations as well as PRS' internal policies. Please note: Donors must have no evidence of significant risk factors for infectious or serious genetic diseases to be approved.

Sperm Quality
Fertilizing potential is measured by analyzing the sperm concentration (the number of sperm), the progressive motility (how straight and fast the sperm swim) and the morphology (the shape of the sperm) present in a man's ejaculate. As one would expect, a fairly high number of sperm showing robust motility and a good percentage of normally-shaped sperm are signs of fertility in natural reproduction. In cases where the results of the semen analysis on a frozen sperm sample are not indicative of positive fertilizing potential, the clinician will discuss reproductive options with you and your recipient (the freezing and thawing process decreases both the number and robustness of sperm).