Here at Seattle Sperm Bank, quality is one of our top priorities and a constant endeavor. We truly stand behind our products with pride and confidence. If you ever have a problem or question concerning your vial quality, please contact us so we can work with you and your clinic to resolve the issue. Our product promise: every properly thawed IUI vial contains at least 10 million motile cells in a 0.5 ml volume, and every ICI vial contains at least 15 million motile cells in a 1.0 ml volume.
We perform a post-thaw count on one vial from every lot to confirm the sperm survive the freezing process and still meet our high standards.
To account for differences in counting methods and the various types of equipment used to do so, there is a 25% acceptable variance from the count made by the receiving clinic compared to our post thaw count. If the insemination does not result in pregnancy and the quality of your vial was in question, simply have your clinic complete our Quality Complaint Form and return it back to us for evaluation and further action. For a copy of this form click Here.
Clients will sometimes ask why we provide 10 million motile cells per IUI vial. The answer is simple and backed by science. Researchers found that if the number of sperm used for insemination was increased, they reached a plateau at 10 million motile cells. This means the addition of more cells did not increase the success rate of achieving pregnancy (Van Voorhis et al.). In another independent study, researchers found no increase in the rate of achieving pregnancy when between 200 thousand and 200 million motile cells were used in intrauterine insemination (Cressman et al.).
Our ICI vials contain more motile cells per vial since clinics will often wash these samples themselves. The extra motile cells provide a margin for clinics since a portion of the cells are lost during processing.