AB070. The current status of sperm bank in Korea

Sperm banking is an important option to maintain or induce the male fertilization even though under the era of in vitro fertilization. The medical indications for sperm banking are generally consisted of three categories. There are cases on planning the permanent contraception like vasectomy or cancer patients to be scheduled the chemotherapy or radiotherapy as first category, male infertile patients with severe oligozoospermia or artificially harvested sperm i.e., from MESA or TESE etc. for the artificial insemination with husband sperm as second category, and the therapeutic artificial insemination with donated sperm as third category. Of these three categories, the sperm donation programme accompanies various complicated practical, ethical and legal issues. Therefore, highly regulated statements are mandatory in order to secure safety and perfect practice for voluntary sperm donors and infertile couples both. In aspect of administrative structure of sperm bank, there are two types that are public based in the most of European countries and China, and commercially available in the USA. Additionally, each country has different standard guideline, regulation statement, act and law to control the sperm donation programmes. Nevertheless, we need a consensus document to operate the sperm bank with the standard guidelines to be well revised according to each country’s ethical perspectives as well as contemporary scientific evolution. This lecture will present the Korean experience in the sperm bank in comparison with different situation in various countries.