Cryopreservation Health Dictionary

Cryopreservation: From 3 Different Sources


The preservation of living cells by freezing. The technique is used to store human eggs for in vitro fertilization, sperm for artificial insemination, or plasma and blood belonging to rare blood groups.
Health Source: BMA Medical Dictionary
Author: The British Medical Association
Maintenance at very low temperatures of the viability of tissues or organs that have been excised from the body.
Health Source: Medical Dictionary
Author: Health Dictionary
n. preservation of tissues by freezing. Cryopreservation of embryos, egg cells, or sperm may be employed as part of *in vitro fertilization procedures, for example if there are medical reasons for delaying the pregnancy. See also vitrification.
Health Source: Oxford | Concise Colour Medical Dictionary
Author: Jonathan Law, Elizabeth Martin

Bone Marrow Transplant

The procedure by which malignant or defective bone marrow in a patient is replaced with normal bone marrow. Sometimes the patient’s own marrow is used (when the disease is in remission); after storage using tissue-freezing technique (cryopreservation) it is reinfused into the patient once the diseased marrow has been treated (autologous transplant). More commonly, a transplant uses marrow from a donor whose tissue has been matched for compatibility. The recipient’s marrow is destroyed with CYTOTOXIC drugs before transfusion. The recipient is initially nursed in an isolated environment to reduce the risk of infection.

Disorders that can be helped or even cured include certain types of LEUKAEMIA and many inherited disorders of the immune system (see IMMUNITY).... bone marrow transplant

Sperm Bank

a facility that collects, freezes, and stores human sperm for future use in *artificial insemination (see cryopreservation). Sperm is donated by men who relinquish legal rights to any future child, and donors’ identities are generally unknown to recipients. In some cases, men store their sperm for their own future use if they are to undergo a medical treatment that might leave them sterile.... sperm bank



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