Egg Freezing
Oocyte cryopreservation, or egg freezing, is a relatively new procedure in the field of assisted reproductive technologies.Egg freezing allows a woman to preserve her fertility until she is ready to start her family. This option is available to women who are diagnosed with cancer or other illnesses that may affect their fertility. It is also an option for healthy women who wish to delay attempting to achieve pregnancy until later, recognizing that as we age, our fertility function decreases. Overall, this technology increases a woman's potential to have children later in life.
During an egg-freezing cycle, a patient will undergo many of the same steps as those involved in a typical IVF cycle: ovulation stimulation, ultrasound monitoring, and egg retrieval. After the egg retrieval, the eggs will be cultured for a few hours and then frozen on the same day for future use.
Fertility Preservation & Age
Unlike men, who produce new sperm daily throughout their reproductive lives, women are born with all the eggs they will ever have and gradually lose them each month. Consequently, women's fertility and egg quantity decrease over time.
As women age, both the quantity and quality of their eggs are negatively affected, leading to a decline in a woman's fecundity rate (the chance of pregnancy in a single menstrual cycle) and an increased risk of miscarriage. With a decreasing ovarian reserve, the likelihood of fertility issues also rises. Freezing eggs at a younger age allows women to conceive later and offers the pregnancy-related health benefits of using younger eggs, including reduced miscarriage and genetic abnormalities. Some women may become pregnant naturally for their first child but opt to use their frozen eggs for subsequent pregnancies or in cases of secondary infertility.