• Treatment
  • In vitro fertilisation (IVF)
  • Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
  • Intrauterine insemination (IUI)
  • Donor insemination (DI)
    • Get started
    • Chance of success
    • The risks
  • Genetic testing
  • Gamete intra fallopian transfer (GIFT)
  • In vitro maturation (IVM)
  • Reproductive immunology
  • Surrogacy
  • Fertility drugs
  • Surgery
• Storage
• Using donated sperm, eggs or embryos in your treatment
• When treatment fails, what next?
• Risks of fertility treatment

The risks associated with donor insemination (DI) treatment depend on how it is used:

• where DI is combined with the use of fertility drugs, the risk of multiple births is increased. After conception, the risks are the same as those for normal pregnancies
• if you are using donor sperm with in vitro fertilisation (IVF), the same risks apply
• using sperm from sources other than a registered donor is not only dangerous but illegal. Only sperm from registered donors should be used for DI, as this ensures the donor will have been thoroughly screened for many sexually transmitted and some hereditary diseases and the sperm will have been quarantined for six months (to check that the sample is not infected with diseases such as HIV and hepatitis B and C) before use.

For more information, see:

• Risks of fertility treatment
• In vitro fertilisation (IVF)
• Fertility drugs

Page last updated: 14 April 2009

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