ReproTech provides storage services for patients who have tested reactive for any communicable disease, such as HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis, or SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. ReproTech eliminates potential cross-contamination issues with this program. Please note, we assess higher potentially infectious storage fees for this special storage. Note that if non-reactive test results are not received by ReproTech prior to specimen shipment, these potentially infectious storage fees will be charged. Learn more about our storage fees.
ReproTech maintains a dedicated shipping tank fleet for the transfer of both non-HIV potentially infectious specimens and specimens from HIV reactive patients. These tanks are all rated with a 14 day hold time, which allows clinic staff to receive the tank, have it ready for the cycle, place the specimens into it, and return the tank to ReproTech for storage. Shipping fees must be pre-paid before shipment of the tank(s). Learn more about our shipping fees.
Storage of potentially infectious specimens is maintained in customized vapor storage tanks with specimens segregated within the tank by potentially infectious disease. Specimens from HIV-reactive patients are stored in separate tanks, used only for those specimens. These tanks maintain temperatures within 4 degrees of liquid storage tanks, maintain liquid nitrogen volumes the same as liquid storage tanks, and are monitored by the same system and with the same alarm threshold of -185 degrees Celsius, which is more than 50 degrees below the critical temperature.
These extra steps add to the safety of storage for all patients who are storing their reproductive tissue.
Please contact ReproTech as soon as possible prior to your cycle or specimen retrieval so that an account can be set up and our staff can coordinate the shipping of a tank with your fertility center staff. It is possible that your clinic will request a shipping tank before it is known if you will have specimens to freeze. ReproTech will supply a shipping tank into which the cryopreserved tissues are immediately transferred after freezing. The specimens are then promptly shipped to ReproTech for storage. We do not offer a refund for shipping fees if a tank is shipped but no specimens are frozen for storage.
Specimens may then be returned to your fertility center at a future date for thawing and use in a frozen tissue transfer.
Read the Frequently Asked Questions about Potentially Infectious specimen storage.
