ISSN: 2044-9038 (Print) 2044-9046 (Electronic)

Clinical Practice

Posthumous Sperm Bioethics Scientific Journals

Cryopreservation of human sperm for a future use was originally employed for men who needed medical or surgical treatments that impair fertility. Posthumous sperm retrieval (PSR) is a relatively new and unconventional use of this technology. Sperm obtained within the post-mortem state was first reported in 1980 (Rothman, 1980; Batzer et al., 2003); since then, only a couple of pregnancies and births attributed to PSR-derived sperm have been reported. The sociopolitical implications of this technology and the case law surrounding its use have increased dramatically in the last several years. Modern assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have reinforced the feasibility of PSR but have also delivered to light many moral, ethical, legal and social issues. Providers who become involved in PSR must take into account an array of existing governmental regulations and institutional and published Guidelines for PSR within the medical literature suggest that the procedure should be performed within 24 h after death to accumulate motile or vital sperm. We evaluated a two-institution experience in men in whom PSR was performed to determine whether there is a post-mortem time point after which usable or viable sperm might not be retrieved. Methods used for sperm procurement included en-bloc orchiectomy with epididymectomy and vasal sperm aspiration, orchiectomy plus epididymectomy and epididymectomy alone. Electroejaculation (EEJ) was used in neurologically unresponsive men on ventilatory support.      

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