Achievement of second parenthood in an ART programme using frozen donor semen: cohort follow-up

This study was designed to determine the efficacy of a programme using frozen donor semen in a cohort of patients returning for treatment after previously conceiving through donor insemination (DI).

The cohort included 222 couples with secondary infertility (previous live birth) in one University Hospital Centre. The treatment sequence involved DI cycles until completion. Live births, drop-out for personal or medical reasons and recourse to IVF with donor semen (IVF-D) were recorded for all patients. Live births were expressed as both rate per cycle and crude cumulative rate.

At the end of the DI cycles, 65% of couples in the cohort achieved second parenthood. Most of them (77%) succeeded after only four DI cycles. The majority of couples who stopped treatment did so for personal reasons.

Patients involved in a second parenthood project belong to a 'selected' population. Management and counselling of such patients need to reconcile the early efficacy of DI cycles, the invasiveness of the IVF-D procedure and the availability of donor semen.