Short answer: as many as you can afford and have time to freeze. But the ideal number of samples to store also depends on your future plans. A few questions you might consider:
- Do you have kids already? If you don’t, there may be a higher chance that you’ll want more kids in the future.
- What is your cancer treatment plan? If you need surgery to remove testicles or another treatment that will impact sperm production permanently, you may want to freeze more sperm.
Generally speaking, one vial of sperm is used in each IUI or IVF procedure.
- 1 semen sample = 4 vials of frozen sperm
- 1 vial of frozen sperm = 1 IUI or IVF procedure
IUI pregnancy rates range from 10–25% per cycle; IVF success rates range from 5–50% per cycle. So, you may need multiple attempts to achieve pregnancy.