GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Abstain from Ejaculation: To refrain from having an ejaculate. CryoGam recommends that you abstain for at least 3-7 days prior to feezing sperm or laboratory anaylsis.
Anonymous Oocyte Donor: An anonymous oocyte donor is a woman who is typically between the ages of 21-35. She is stimulated with fertility drugs to develop more than one follicle so multiple oocytes may be recovered during egg retrieval. She has no legal obligation to any ensuing pregnancy. Her identity is not known to the recipient. Anonymous oocyte donors are regulated by the FDA.
Anonymous Sperm Donor: An anonymous sperm donor is a man typically between the ages of 18-35. He donates his sperm for a minimum of 6 months. He has no legal obligation to any ensuing pregnancy. His identity is not known to the recipient(s). Anonymous sperm donors are regulated by the FDA.
Client Depositor: A person who is storing their reproductive tissue for use either by themselves or with a sexually intimate partner. Client depositors are not required to complete FDA communicable disease screening and testing. Communicable Disease: A communicable disease is a disease in which the FDA has established a potential transmission risk to either the recipient of the HCTP or to people who come into contact with the HCTP. FDA requires relevant communicable disease screening and testing to be completed on all directed and anonymous donors.
Cryopreservation: Cryopreservation is a low-temperature storage of biological cells and/or tissues for indefinite periods of time. Cryopreservation of sperm utilizes liquid nitrogen as both the refrigerant and storage medium.
Egg Retrieval: An in-office procedure using an ultrasound guided needle to puncture and aspirate the follicles on a woman's ovaries in hopes of retrieving oocytes. The oocytes retrieved will then be used in IVF.
Ejaculate: The semen expelled coincident with the male orgasm.
FDA: Food and Drug Administration. The FDA regulates the donation of HCTP's.
Freezing Embryos: Embryos are frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen either for short or long term. Reasons for freezing and storing embryos vary but most people have more embryos than safe to transfer from IVF and thus freeze their embryos to be used at a later date.
Gestational Carrier: A gestational carrier is a woman who undergoes an embryo transfer with embryos that are not genetically linked to her. She has no biological input to the genetics of the pregnancy and is simply being paid to carry the pregnancy to term. A gestational carrier can be from an agency which in the beginning makes her unknown or it can be a personal friend/family member thus making her known from the beginning.
HCTP: Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue Based Products. This includes sperm, oocytes, and embryos.
Insemination: Insemination is a mechanical process where sperm is loaded into a soft flexible catheter and passed through the recipient's cervix so the sperm can be deposited directly into the uterus. It is an in office procedure that typically takes about 15 minutes depending on the health care provider. This process is done during the recipient's fertile time and can occur once or twice in a cycle.
Insemination unit: The individual unit of processed sperm used for insemination. Each unit is the result of carefully washing all of the sperm cells in the ejaculate with a specialized nutrient medium and dividing the total into a number of smaller portions, or units.
Intended Parents: Intended parents are the people (person) that will receive a baby. The baby may be of their genetic make-up or that of donor's.
In-vitro Fertilization(IVF): IVF is a procedure where oocytes are removed from a woman and combined in a dish with sperm in the hopes that fertilization will take place and an embryo, or embryos, will result. It can take up to a month of medication taking to harvest oocytes. The cost of IVF compared to insemination is much higher and many health insurance companies do not cover it.
Known or Directed Donor: A known or directed donor is a sperm and or oocyte donor that is known to the recipient prior to the retrieval for use of their gametes. This includes people such as a brother, sister, aunt, uncle, or friend. The arrangement of legal obligation of these donors is usually worked out with a lawyer prior to the procedures being done. Known or directed donors are regulated by the FDA but have more flexibility in their health eligibility to be a donor.
Personal Sperm Cryopreservation: Storage of sperm to be used with a partner that you are sexually intimate with. Personal sperm cryopreservation patients are not required to complete FDA communicable disease screening and testing.
Quarantine: The storage and identification of donor sperm (or other reproductive tissue) that is not available for use until repeat communicable disease screening and testing is complete. The minimum quarantine time of all anonymous and directed donor sperm specimens is six-months.
Recipient: A recipient is the medical term used for the woman receiving reproductive tissue. She can be receiving sperm from an insemination or an embryo from in-vitro fertilization using an oocyte donor.
Traditional Surrogate: A traditional surrogate is a woman who is inseminated with sperm from a man that is planning on taking full custody of the baby. The traditional surrogate is different than the gestational carrier in that she contributes half the genetic make-up of the offspring. Typically the traditional surrogate will have a legal arrangement with the intended parents to relinquish parental rights and obligations. Traditional surrogacy is not legal in all states.
Semen or Seminal Fluid: The thick, whitish secretion of the male reproductive organs. The seminal fluid contains sperm from the testes and secretions of the male accessory gland, including the prostate gland and the seminal vesicles.Cryopreservation: Cryopreservation is a low-temperature storage of biological cells and/or tissues for indefinite periods of time. Cryopreservation of sperm utilizes liquid nitrogen as both the refrigerant and storage medium.
Egg Retrieval: An in-office procedure using an ultrasound guided needle to puncture and aspirate the follicles on a woman's ovaries in hopes of retrieving oocytes. The oocytes retrieved will then be used in IVF.
Ejaculate: The semen expelled coincident with the male orgasm.
FDA: Food and Drug Administration. The FDA regulates the donation of HCTP's.
Freezing Embryos: Embryos are frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen either for short or long term. Reasons for freezing and storing embryos vary but most people have more embryos than safe to transfer from IVF and thus freeze their embryos to be used at a later date.
Gestational Carrier: A gestational carrier is a woman who undergoes an embryo transfer with embryos that are not genetically linked to her. She has no biological input to the genetics of the pregnancy and is simply being paid to carry the pregnancy to term. A gestational carrier can be from an agency which in the beginning makes her unknown or it can be a personal friend/family member thus making her known from the beginning.
HCTP: Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue Based Products. This includes sperm, oocytes, and embryos.
Insemination: Insemination is a mechanical process where sperm is loaded into a soft flexible catheter and passed through the recipient's cervix so the sperm can be deposited directly into the uterus. It is an in office procedure that typically takes about 15 minutes depending on the health care provider. This process is done during the recipient's fertile time and can occur once or twice in a cycle.
Insemination unit: The individual unit of processed sperm used for insemination. Each unit is the result of carefully washing all of the sperm cells in the ejaculate with a specialized nutrient medium and dividing the total into a number of smaller portions, or units.
Intended Parents: Intended parents are the people (person) that will receive a baby. The baby may be of their genetic make-up or that of donor's.
In-vitro Fertilization(IVF): IVF is a procedure where oocytes are removed from a woman and combined in a dish with sperm in the hopes that fertilization will take place and an embryo, or embryos, will result. It can take up to a month of medication taking to harvest oocytes. The cost of IVF compared to insemination is much higher and many health insurance companies do not cover it.
Known or Directed Donor: A known or directed donor is a sperm and or oocyte donor that is known to the recipient prior to the retrieval for use of their gametes. This includes people such as a brother, sister, aunt, uncle, or friend. The arrangement of legal obligation of these donors is usually worked out with a lawyer prior to the procedures being done. Known or directed donors are regulated by the FDA but have more flexibility in their health eligibility to be a donor.
Personal Sperm Cryopreservation: Storage of sperm to be used with a partner that you are sexually intimate with. Personal sperm cryopreservation patients are not required to complete FDA communicable disease screening and testing.
Quarantine: The storage and identification of donor sperm (or other reproductive tissue) that is not available for use until repeat communicable disease screening and testing is complete. The minimum quarantine time of all anonymous and directed donor sperm specimens is six-months.
Recipient: A recipient is the medical term used for the woman receiving reproductive tissue. She can be receiving sperm from an insemination or an embryo from in-vitro fertilization using an oocyte donor.
Traditional Surrogate: A traditional surrogate is a woman who is inseminated with sperm from a man that is planning on taking full custody of the baby. The traditional surrogate is different than the gestational carrier in that she contributes half the genetic make-up of the offspring. Typically the traditional surrogate will have a legal arrangement with the intended parents to relinquish parental rights and obligations. Traditional surrogacy is not legal in all states.