Home > Cancer and Treatments > Fertility Counseling & Gamete Cryopreservation

Appointments & Referrals

See Also: Fees

Appointments are generally made by physician referral. Your health care specialist can initiate a referral to the Fertility Counseling and Gamete Cryopreservation program during or prior to your initial visit to the Cancer Center. You or your cancer team should contact our office at 734-615-8143.

There are fees for the initial consultation, follow-up visits, gamete collection, storage and eventual preparation and shipment of samples for use. These costs are not usually covered by insurance. Please see our Fees page for more information.

Male Patients

Appointments will be set up at the earliest possible date. Counseling and initial appointments are held in the Cancer Center, Reception D, Floor B1. Level B1 floor map

Following the initial consultation, your referring physician will be notified about the recommended collection schedule, which will be formulated after the results of the first semen analysis are known. In general, we recommend that men bank at least 3 separate ejaculates, at least 48 hours apart. In most cases, this will allow the best chance of conception via Intra Uterine Insemination (IUI), and in some cases, the potential for subsequent pregnancies.

Semen collection for cryopreservation is obtained at our facility: the Center for Reproductive Medicine. The specimen must be processed in the morning, by appointment only. Appointments will be made weekdays from 8a.m. until 12:30pm.

Please see also our Gamete Cryopreservation Information page for further details.

Female Patients

Females with cancer who desire oocyte cryopreservation are encouraged to first talk with their primary oncology doctor or nurse. Oocyte cryopreservation may take up to 35 - 40 days to complete, and it is important that this not delay or interfere with cancer treatment. After discussing oocyte cryopreservation with your doctor, you or your cancer team should contact our office at 734-615-8143. An initial consultation appointment with the FCGCP nurse counselor will be arranged for the earliest possible date, usually within 2-5 days of the initial contact.

Following the initial consult, if the decision to pursue oocyte cryopreservation is made, laboratory blood work will be ordered, and oral contraceptive pills (birth control pills) will be prescribed to facilitate the regulation of the ovarian cycle.

An appointment with the Reproductive Endocrinology physician, Dr. L. April Gago, will be made for the following Monday morning. You can plan for a complete physical exam, gynecologic vaginal exam, an ovarian ultrasound, and possibly more blood work.

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University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
1500 East Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

This site is part of the U-M Health System. The information presented is not a tool for self diagnosis or a substitute for professional care. © 2008 U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center