News

25th May 2004

A baby after 21 years in deep freezer

A couple have given birth to a baby from sperm frozen 21 years ago. Medical experts believe this sets a world record for the oldest sperm successfully used for IVF treatment. They used a technique called Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) which involves injecting a single sperm directly into an egg to ensure fertilisation.The baby born two years was conceived after the couple's fourth attempt at IVF.

The father who, was left sterile after surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy for testicular cancer, at the age of 17 was adviced to have sperm frozen before the treatment in case he wanted to start a family in future. He had five phials of sperm "cryospreserved".

Sperm kept in the deep freeze has no apparent sell-by date and freezing does not appear to affect its quality at all.

Also, there is no evidence to suggest that children born from frozen sperm are at any greater risk of abnormal development.

Scientists warn that scientific knowledge in this field is still developing, but in theory sperm could be stored for centuries and still be perfectly functional. Under UK regulations, frozen sperm can be stored until a man is 55.

The main worries with IVF are multiple births because doctors implant more than one embryo into the mother's womb to increase the chances of success.

Under new rules introduced earlier this year, each couple will only be guaranteed one cycle of IVF treatment on the NHS. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence had recommended three free cycles.

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• Read our news story about free fertility treatment for the under 40s
• Find out more about infertility issues