DONOR QUALIFICATION

A Step-by-Step Description Of How We Select Donors For Our Program

Have you ever wondered how a semen bank selects its donors? At the California Cryobank, we use a stringent screening process and currently accept into our donor program less than 1% of the men who apply.

Here's why:

The Phone Call
The process begins with a phone call to our donor coordinator. She asks potential donors a few basic questions regarding their height, weight, age and educational background. She also asks whether he or his parents are adopted.

These questions are asked for the following reasons:

1. Donors must be between the ages of 19 and 39. According to the Cryobank's medical director, Cappy Rothman, MD, "While a man's fertility does not automatically decline after the age of 39, men under that age are more likely to consistently produce superior quality of sperm necessary for successful freezing and thawing."  The American Association of Tissue Banks sets age 39 as the maximum age for donors.
2. Most California Cryobank donors attend, or have graduated from a major 4-year university or attend at least 2 years at a 4 year university. Our donors come from exceptional institutions including University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Southern California (USC), University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Stanford University, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
3. We accept only those men who can provide the medical and genetic information on themselves and their family members required by the California Cryobank.
4. We are looking for donor characteristics that are frequently requested by clients.
5. Questions are asked regarding specific medical conditions, such as diabetes and cancer, to begin the screening process.

The Application Process
If a potential donor meets the above listed requirements, our donor coordinator will ask him to schedule an appointment to complete the donor application form and provide a semen sample. The semen sample will then be analyzed to determine whether the donor's semen meets our standards.

The Screening Process
Once the potential donor's semen sample meets our standards it generally takes 2 to 3 months for a donor applicant to become a fully qualified donor. During this period, a potential donor will leave several sperm samples, complete a three-generation medical and genetic history (better known as the "long profile"), meet with several people for interviews, including our genetic counselor, have a complete physical exam and have various laboratory tests.

The laboratory tests performed during the initial screening of Cryobank donors include the following:

• Chlamydia NAT
• Gonorrhea NAT
• CMV antibody (if reactive, additional tests are performed to exclude an active infection)
• Hepatitis B Virus surface antigen
• Hepatitis B Virus core antibody
• Hepatitis C Virus antibody
• Hepatitis C Virus NAT
• HTLV I/II antibody
• HIV1/HIV2 antibody
• HIV 1 NAT
• Syphilis Serology

(NAT: Nucleic Acid Test)

The following tests are done during the initial screening and then repeated every three months:

• ALT(SGPT)
• Chlamydia
• Cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibody (IgG & IgM)
• Gonorrhea
• Hepatitis B surface antigen
• Hepatitis B core antibody
• Hepatitis C viral antibody
• HIV 1/2 antibody
• HTLV-I/II antibody
• RPR (Syphilis)

The majority of potential donors are disqualified due to inadequate semen specimens. Because a small portion of the sperm is lost in the freezing and thawing process, a donor's fresh semen samples must meet certain minimum requirements.

One of our genetic counselors conducts a medical and genetic interview which includes a review of the long profile completed by each donor. The long profile includes information about the health of the donor, his siblings, his parents, his grandparents, his parent's siblings and his cousins. The medical/family history is carefully evaluated for any birth defects or known genetic conditions.

A donor applicant is disqualified from participation in the donor program if there is a family history which indicates that the man's offspring may be at increased risk for a birth defect or known genetic condition. If the genetic counselor, donor manager, laboratory manager, and the medical director are satisfied that the man is a good candidate for our donor program, he is given a number and is admitted into our program.