How Do You Calculate the Right Liquid Nitrogen Storage Capacity for Your IVF Programme?

Calculating the storage capacity you actually need is one of the most important and most frequently underestimated planning decisions an IVF laboratory makes. A vessel that suits today’s inventory may be a constraint within three years, and adding capacity mid-programme in a licensed clinical setting is significantly more disruptive than specifying correctly from the outset.

Start with your current inventory

Count every sample currently in storage – embryo batches, oocyte batches and sperm samples separately. For embryo storage, note the average number of straws per patient. This gives you your baseline straw count, which is the unit of measure that maps to your vessel configuration.

Project your growth rate

How many new patients enter storage per year? How many patients are using, transferring out or disposing of samples annually? The net annual increase is what drives capacity planning. Under the Health and Care Act 2022, samples can now be stored for up to 55 years with consent renewed every ten years. This means fewer samples are leaving storage than in the previous ten-year limit era. Factor this into your projection – your net annual growth rate is likely higher than it was five years ago.

Apply a buffer

Add a minimum 20 percent buffer to your five-year projected inventory. Storage loads grow faster than most labs anticipate, and the cost of specifying slightly above current requirements is a fraction of the cost of an unplanned mid-programme vessel addition.

The most common capacity planning mistake in UK IVF laboratories is modelling for current volume rather than projected volume. The vessel you buy today will still be in service in ten years. Specify for where your programme will be, not where it is now.

Map to vessel configuration

Each CryoNest or CryoCan vessel holds a specific number of canisters. Each canister holds a specific number of goblets. Each goblet holds a specific number of visotubes holding straws. Cryolab’s team can calculate the total straw capacity of any vessel configuration based on your specific consumable setup and match it to your projected inventory. Contact us for a capacity planning conversation or use CryoGPT for immediate guidance.