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Lab Cost for sperm biopsy and storage

keziah23keziah23 member
in Infertility

my DH is scheduled for varicocele repair, biopsy and sperm retrieval surgery in February. The surgery will be done by a urologist who specializes in male infertility. The surgery will be covered by our insurance, they cover any diagnostics and treatment of underlying causes of infertility.

However, I then have to take the sample of testicular material they retrieve to a reproductive endroconologist office  who will examine for sperm and if there are any do the cryo-preservation. The price they quoted me on the phone today for doing this is $2,300. $2,000 for examining the material for sperm and then $300 for storage if they find any.  The $2,000 seems a bit high, as that is just for their lab to do the examining, not any of the doctor's fees or anything for the surgery.  What do you think?

 I'm in the St. Louis metro area if this is relevant.  

Me 39, DH 40
Male Factor (severe oligospermia) 
IVF#1-December 2013: Conversion Protocol @ SIRM, Canceled on day 10 of stims due to poor response
IVF#2- February 2014:  Estrogen Priming Conversion Protocol @ SIRM (ER 2/22: (9R, 7M, 4F, All arrested, nothing to trasnfer)
IUI#1-May 28, 2014- 100mg clomid, HCG Trigger, 100mg progesterone oral--BFN
IUI#2-June 24, 2014- non medicated, HCG 2,500mg x 4 doses (over a week), Endometrium- BFN
Suprise BFP- September 1, 2014- miscarriage at 5 weeks. 

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Re: Lab Cost for sperm biopsy and storage

  • melkel559melkel559 member
    That definitely seems high to me. We are in the Philadelphia area and I know costs vary by clinic and area however ours was 600 dollars to look through the tissue, 200 to freeze and 300 yearly to store. HTH! GL!
    TTC since June 2011
    DX: DH (30) severe MFI, severely low count & low motility
    Me (32): all clear
    Appt with Urologist 5/21/12: exam, ultrasound, bloodwork all normal.
    Testicular Biopsy with TESE on 6/8/12. good sperm found! (left side only) froze sperm, failed thaw test :(
    Orientation for IVF/ICSI on 6/13/12. Waiting for the green light following biopsy results...results show adequate sperm production both sides.
    2nd SA 6/18/12: sample is "adequate for ICSI"
    Plan: IVF/ICSI July 2012!
    ER: 7/26/12. 15 eggs retrieved, all mature.
    TESE/TESA/aspiration from epididymis, no motile sperm found :(
    froze all eggs, the saga of praying for good sperm continues.
    8/3/12: 2nd opinion from MFI uro on biopsy slides. Suspects "partial late maturation arrest."
    Plan: more SAs, third biopsy/TESE with frozen back-up either from DH or DS.
    SA 8/17/12: Zero sperm
    SA 8/23/12: Zero sperm
    9/26/12: SPERM FOUND! 15 eggs thawed, 12 survived and were ICSI'd, only 3 fertilized normally. Refrozen as embies and will thaw in Nov. Please survive and grow!
    All 3 survived the thaw on 11/15/12!
    FET 11/17/12: transferred 2, one 4B, one 4C. Beta 11/30:BFFN
    moving on to DS
    DIUI#1 2/18/13,50mg Clomid cd 3-7, Ovidrel trigger, Beta 3/4/13: BFN.
    DIUI#2 3/19/13, 50 mg Clomid cd 3-7, Ovidrel trigger, Beta #1 (14dpiui) 4/2/13: BFP!!!! 150. Beta #2 4/4/13: 420 Beta #3 4/8/13: 2691. Beta #4 4/15/13: 15,086
    1st u/s 4/8/13 shows one gestational sac
    2nd u/s 4/15/13 shows yolk sac, fetal pole and early heartbeat
    3rd u/s 4/25/13: measuring right on track. Heart rate 148 bpm
    A/S 7/22/13: IT'S A BOY!!
    PAIF/SAIF Always Welcome
    [IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/2qmon5u.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd243/laurakat24/turkeybaster-1.jpg"[/IMG]Image and video hosting by TinyPic
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  • LuCloLuClo member

    Those numbers do seem pretty high.  I don't remember the exact numbers, but think it was about $300 for testing (I remember the sticker shock, we were still new to treatment.)  It could have been more, but still in the hundreds, not the thousands.  Storage is $780/year.  And we're in Boston, so it's a pretty HCOL area.  It might be worth calling to double check.

    DH had vas reconstruction last April, I remember doing the transfer.  Little styrofoam cooler they brought me the sample in: funny.  Seat-belting my cooler into the passenger seat: also funny.  Battling rush-hour city traffic to try and get back before DH got out of surgery: not funny.  Good luck with the surgery.  I'll think easy traffic and green lights in your direction!

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  • keziah23keziah23 member

    any suggestions on what to do? We have an appointment with them on Monday to go over everything. Talk to them about the cost? How would we go about trying to finding comparisons?

     

     

    Me 39, DH 40
    Male Factor (severe oligospermia) 
    IVF#1-December 2013: Conversion Protocol @ SIRM, Canceled on day 10 of stims due to poor response
    IVF#2- February 2014:  Estrogen Priming Conversion Protocol @ SIRM (ER 2/22: (9R, 7M, 4F, All arrested, nothing to trasnfer)
    IUI#1-May 28, 2014- 100mg clomid, HCG Trigger, 100mg progesterone oral--BFN
    IUI#2-June 24, 2014- non medicated, HCG 2,500mg x 4 doses (over a week), Endometrium- BFN
    Suprise BFP- September 1, 2014- miscarriage at 5 weeks. 

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  • LaineyPaneyLaineyPaney member
    Who at the lab is doing it? At our RE's office there is also an Andrologist / Embryologist. He's a physician too.
    When we were first dealing with banking sperm during my husband's multiple surgeries, I think we paid around a thousand dollars for the first Andrology appointment and SA. Then it was a few hundred dollars for the processing and preservation of each subsequent deposit.

    Ultimately the vials were all stored at the Fairfax CryoBank in Austin and I think that was around 36 per month for the long term storage option.

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  • LaineyPaneyLaineyPaney member
    Ps: with fees like that, do NOT be afraid to ask about their training and education. WHO exactly will be looking at the specimen? Are these time sensitive things, meaning are you going to be available on surgery date to do this at allotted surgery time?

    ...oh, good luck. It can all seem so overwhelming...seem is probably not the right word. It can BE overwhelming! Good luck.
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  • keziah23keziah23 member
    Thanks, I plan on asking all of that. I don't want my husband to go through this for nothing but then again I don't want to overpay. 
    Me 39, DH 40
    Male Factor (severe oligospermia) 
    IVF#1-December 2013: Conversion Protocol @ SIRM, Canceled on day 10 of stims due to poor response
    IVF#2- February 2014:  Estrogen Priming Conversion Protocol @ SIRM (ER 2/22: (9R, 7M, 4F, All arrested, nothing to trasnfer)
    IUI#1-May 28, 2014- 100mg clomid, HCG Trigger, 100mg progesterone oral--BFN
    IUI#2-June 24, 2014- non medicated, HCG 2,500mg x 4 doses (over a week), Endometrium- BFN
    Suprise BFP- September 1, 2014- miscarriage at 5 weeks. 

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