Boy born from 21-year-old sperm

LONDON, England (AP) -- A British woman gave birth to a baby boy using sperm from her husband that was frozen 21 years earlier, their doctor said Tuesday.

 

Dr. Elizabeth Pease, a consultant in reproductive medicine at St. Mary's Hospital in Manchester where the baby was born two years ago, said she believed the age of the sperm made the case a world record.

 

Pease said the father had five vials of his sperm "cryopreserved" at the age of 17, before treatment for testicular cancer that left him sterile.

 

Some of the sperm was defrosted to inseminate his partner's eggs when the unidentified couple decided to try to have children in 1995.

 

The first attempt was unsuccessful and the couple, who chose to remain anonymous, began fertility treatment, again using more of the stored sperm.

 

In 2001, the woman successfully conceived during the couple's fourth attempt at IVF. She gave birth in 2002.

 

Greg Horne, the senior embryologist at St. Mary's Hospital, said the case proved that long-term freezing can successfully preserve sperm quality and fertility.

 

"This is important to know because semen stored by young cancer patients is undertaken at a time of great emotional stress when future fertility is unlikely to be an immediate priority," he said.

 

"It also suggests that we need to extend follow-up studies of cryobanked sperm up to 25 years at least," he added.

 

Dr. Virginia Bolton, a consultant embryologist at King's College Hospital in London, said the case was welcome news but "not hugely surprising."

 

"From animal studies, the only damage it seems that could occur to frozen sperm is through background radiation," she said.