[Cryopreservation of human spermatozoa--evaluation of 93 semen depots]

Cryopreserved semen depots from 93 patients who had terminated contract with the CRYO-BANK-KREFELD were evaluated for prefreeze quality and post-thaw motility after a few days and after long-term storage (mean = 44 month). 2/3 of these patients had onkological disease. Only 20% of the ejaculates were normozoospermic and showed motility after thawing of more than 20%. The average recovery rate after long term storage was only 28% and revealed a significant decrease with time of about 20%. The concentration of motile spermatozoa, especially in patients with testicular cancer (x = 2.1 mill/ml), was so much reduced one must assume that in the most cases of semen banking there was no chance to achieve pregnancy.