Dublin's Rotunda Hospital has had a success rate of more than 50 per cent in achieving pregnancy in women using frozen sperm provided by their partners before their partners underwent cancer treatment.
To date, sperm from 14 such men has been used in attempting pregnancy and in more than half the cases pregnancy was achieved. The programme's success was highlighted yesterday at the opening of a €500,000 extension to the hospital's human assisted reproduction unit.
The unit offers hope to cancer patients by freezing their sperm or eggs before they undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which could affect their fertility.
Prof Robert Harrison, director of the unit, said that when the service was set up five years ago it was expected it would be used by about four patients a year. "This proved a gross underestimate. In the first year of operation 56 patients used the service and to date over 500 cancer patients from every county in Ireland have had semen stored from the age of 16 upwards," he said.
"In many cases we have only one or two days' notice to freeze sperm before vital treatment begins. Running a seven-day-a- week service, we are able to respond within 24 hours," he said. The service is available to all patients, regardless of means.
The unit only began to freeze eggs in January and 11 women have been referred. However, obtaining eggs for freezing is much more cumbersome and the results in terms of eventual pregnancy also differ from cases where frozen sperm is used.
"Prognosis in the female is poorer, which can be illustrated by the fact that there are many thousands of babies born as a result of using frozen semen whereas in the world there are probably only 52 or so born from frozen eggs," Prof Harrison said.
He paid tribute to the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, who opened the unit, saying he had "tried harder and has succeeded more in improving healthcare provisions for all who live in Ireland, despite the usual saboteurs".