Vasectomy and ICSI

[HemBella]

Morning ladies

I'm looking for any personal experiences of vasectomy and ICSI. My current partner had a vasectomy over 10 years ago in his previous marriage. We've used donor sperm for the last few rounds of IVF - initially because I started IVF as a single woman after my marriage collapsed because my then husband changed his mind about having children.

I was already on the IVF rollercoaster when I met my current partner, but knowing that he had had a vasectomy we continued with donor sperm. Even with DS my most successful fertilisation was with ICSI so I'm familiar with that process and would be looking to do that again.

We have one PGS tested frozen embryo left, but as I am now 42 and still havent had a BFP, I'm weighing up my options and considering seeing if I can bank a few more embryos while I can still use my own eggs. And rather than using more donor sperm we've been talking about using my partners sperm and ICSI. But I dont know what that entails for him.

If anyone could share their experience that would be appreciated

Many thanks

xx

[Hidden]

Hi, I am in almost the exact same situation. My partner had his vasectomy 13 years ago, long before we met. I am 42. He had a surgical sperm retrieval on the same day that I had my eggs collected. He had the same sort of sedation as I had, with fasting on the day of the operation. The procedure lasted about 20 minutes. They took enough for 3 samples. A friend had to take us home from the hospital. Apparently after sperm retrieval, it’s unlikely you will get embryos that will be viable for freezing. Hope this is helpful. X

[HemBella in reply to Hidden]

thanks Poiuytt, thats really helpful. Do you know why its unlikely to get embryos suitable for freezing? Just curious

[Hidden in reply to HemBella]

Sorry I don’t know the exact reason. They only told me after I asked about the spare embryos 😒

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi Hembella. Looks like your paretner would be in for some kind of PESA/TESA to extract sperm from his testicles. Sperm found would probably be a bit lazy, so this is where the beauty of ICSI comes in. Just wanted to wish you both well with lots of decision making, and hope you can gather some embryos to store for future use. Good luck! Diane

[HemBella in reply to DianeArnold]

thank you Diane, I really appreciate that x

[JoyfulStar]

Hi HemBella, my husband also had a vasectomy before we got together and by the time we embarked on IVF it was over 15 years.

He had a sperm retrieval procedure. Not sure if it was PESA or TESA. It was a day procedure not that dissimilar to an egg retrieval. I accompanied him and he recovered within a day or two.

They retrieved enough sperm for 5 rounds of IVF which was frozen. We obviously did ICSI. After we did one cycle with one clinic, we changed clinics and had it transported.

We used it for 4 cycles in total. For each cycle, the clinics thawed enough for one cycle, checked for motility and used it after egg retrieval to create embryos.

My first cycle was a FET due to the pandemic. My 3 other cycles were embryo banking until I had a fresh transfer during my third cycle. Feel free to check out my profile.

I hope that gives you a flavour of what to expect. Feel free to ask me any other questions.

[HemBella]

Hi JoyfulStarThats really encouraging thank you. I've looked at your profile and remember your recent pregnancy announcement. Congratulations!

The process you have been through is exactly the thing I am thinking of. I'm hoping to do some embryo banking too while I still can, and ideally would like to use my partner's sperm if we can. This gives me great insights, thank you for sharing xx

[JoyfulStar in reply to HemBella]

Thank you so much and you are very welcome. I would definitely recommend embryo banking especially for those of us over 40 who are more likely to have setbacks due to egg quality.

The sperm retrieval procedure was very straightforward. My husband recovered quickly and he was 55 years of age at the time. It also meant he only had to produce sperm once so could be my egg retrieval buddy when my clinic allowed partners to accompany their patients.

I hope and pray you get a positive outcome with your journey 🙏🏾

[Emmanev1]

Hi my other half had a vasectomy about 10 years ago I think. We tried a reversal 4 years ago which didn't work. We are currently on ivf with icsi. They did a sperm retrieval in Jan and got enough for 5 rounds. We did our 1st round in June which resulted in 3 day 5 blasts one was transfered and 2 frozen. My 1st transfer didn't stick currently on a fet now. I noted someone said embryos unlikely to be frozen We were never told this and we had 2 frozen.

[Mellyboo111]

I hembella my husband also had vasectomy done and his was done almost 30 years with his first wife. We then decided to do ivf and his sperms were surgical removed to be added to my eggs. I got 18 eggs retrieved and 14 made it to blastocyst when my husband sperms was added. However because of my husband age we did the PGS testing on 8 and froze 6 non tested embryos. Of the 8 we got 3 good embryos( 2 boys and 1 girl) and we also froze those three. I did one transfer in 2020 and it didnot work. I took a break and did a transfer again in March of 2021 with my remaining two tested embryos and I am now 25 weeks pregnant with fraternal twins a boy and a girl.