# Donor Sperm Motility



## llol_16 (Aug 27, 2016)

Forgive me if this has already been asked or answered elsewhere.

I am in the process of choosing donor sperm ready to start IVF treatment. I've noticed that some donors have a huge range to choose from in terms of sperm motility. I understand about motility being the number of sperm that survive after defrosting etc. What I was wondering was, as I am having IVF, is their a particular motility I should be looking at? I've been told that IUI would obviously stand a better chance of success with higher motility sperm. As IVF means the egg will be outside of me am I better choosing a lower motility sample and saving my limited funds for putting towards the rest of the treatment? Or does higher motility mean overall better quality and therefore a higher chance of becoming pregnant?

Thanks in advance.


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## fruitbowl (Feb 16, 2017)

Hi llol

The advice I received when choosing donor sperm was to get the highest motility I could afford, and check that the sample was approved for IVF/IUI.  The banks are a bit crafty, as motility is only one measure of quality - morphology is really important, but they don't test that, however motility is a good indicator.  A key indicator of quality is of course confirmed pregnancies, and from what I've seen, many women will only choose donors with confirmed pregnancies.

When the sample is defrosted, if the motility is low or there are other issues, your clinic will try and fertilise your eggs using ICSI rather than IVF, and as this is more involved than mixing sperm and eggs in a test tube, it will be more expensive.  So going with less motile sperm (often marked as suitable for ICSI) could be a false economy in the end.

Ask your clinic the minimum motility they recommend for IVF - I think my clinic suggested 40m+, but double check this, as I can't really remember - I went for the best samples from my donor in the end (still to find out if my money was well spent!)


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## llol_16 (Aug 27, 2016)

Hi 
Thanks very much for the reply! I'll contact the clinic again and ask them to be a little more specific. Good luck with your journey. I hope it works out for you!


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