Oocyte or egg freezing is the process where eggs from female are extracted, frozen and stored with liquid nitrogen for later reproductive potential for in women of reproductive age. It is an established science now and no more an experimental procedure. Thousands of healthy babies are born in last decade with frozen eggs. Overall it is an established fact that it doesn’t increase rate of complications.
When one can freeze eggs?
All the young women who wants to continue climbing their career ladder and plan pregnancy once they are established in their career, are planning oocyte freezing. Typical examples are many Bollywood celebrities, who freeze their eggs when they are young and later on they plan pregnancy. Many corporates offer help to their female employees for egg freezing. Even this is option for females with some malignancy undergoing radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
So who needs egg freezing?
1. Women undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer care
2. Fertility preservation for later pregnancy
3. Surgeries that may cause damage to ovaries
4. Females at risk for premature ovarian failure
5. Severe Ovarian disease
One can freeze eggs even for 10 years without any side effects. Thousands are babies born with frozen eggs. There is no established study which shows increased incidence of congenital defect in babies with frozen eggs.
How do you freeze and store eggs?
Oocyte retrieval and oocyte freezing is safe and established procedure in field of IVF now.
It involves following steps,
Step-1: Assessment of ovarian reserve and feasibility. This includes history taking, physical examination, ultrasound and various blood tests.
Step-2: Ovarian stimulation with the help of hormonal injection.
Step-3: Oocyte retrieval under anesthesia or deep sedation per vaginally.
Step-4: Assessment of maturity under high definition microscope.
Step-5. Cryopreservation of mature eggs is done mostly by vitrification method and with the the help of rapid cooling using liquid nitrogen.
What are the chances of pregnancy with frozen eggs?
Successful pregnancy rate is in the range of 5-15% per frozen and thawed oocyte. We need morestudies to come to conclusion.
Successful pregnancy rate is in the range of 5-15% per frozen and thawed oocyte. We need more studies to come to conclusion.
What are the side effects of egg freezing?
Ovarian stimulation can cause bloating of abdomen, pain in abdomen and sometimes you can develop ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome, though it is rare.
Nausea and vomiting.
Pain at injection site,
Bleeding.
Except in cases of full tubal blockage, IVF is never the initial step in the treatment of infertility. It’s only used in circumstances where other treatments have failed, such as fertility medicines, or surgery.
Expenses for freezing are varied from center to center. It depends upon number of eggs, duration for which it needs to be stores etc. Please talk to us fo charges at our center.
Is there any risk of increased defects or pregnancy complications with frozen eggs? So far, established studies doesn’t show any increased incidence of birth defect with frozen eggs compared to fresh eggs. Though long term follow-up is required. For further information, kindly contact us on pearlfertilityandivf@gmail.com