Freezing Hope for the Future

There is perhaps no other advanced reproductive technique that carries with it more hope than oocyte cryopreservation, or egg freezing.

Though the technology is still quite new, its use for the purpose of preserving a woman's fertility is becoming widely known. It is also becoming more available as clinicians and laboratory staff become more knowledgeable and skilled with the various related processes.

Egg freezing's primary use up to now has been for woman who are about to undergo treatment for cancer and some other life-threatening conditions. The treatments, radiation and chemotherapy, carry the tremendous risk of resulting sterility. Now, the patient can choose to utilize egg cryo in order to have a chance at biological parenthood once she is healthy again.

A newer use of egg freezing is for healthy young women who want to delay childbearing for several years down the road. Their reasons may be related to career and financial needs or wanting more time to seek a suitable parenting partner. Another reason for using egg cryo is to avoid the creation of more frozen, unused embryos. Not all clinics that offer egg cryopreservation are serving the fertile population, but the list is growing.

How It Works:

After being accepted into a clinic's egg cryo program, the patient would undergo fertility drug therapy similar to that of any IVF patient. This would enable the woman's ovaries to generate as many eggs as safely possible for later freezing. The eggs would be harvested through usual retrieval methods, then cryopreserved and stored. (For more information on the entire IVF technique, see Learn how IVF works on this site.)

Later, once the woman is healthy and she has decided the time is right to attempt conception, she can return to the clinic to make use of her frozen eggs. Those cells that come through the thawing process intact would be fertilized using intracytoplasmic injection (ICSI), and resulting embryos would be transferred to the patient's uterus.

It should be noted that there are some types of cancer that develop more quickly in response to the female hormone estrogen. For this reason, some cancer patients will not be able to use fertility medications that induce ovulation. This, in turn, will decrease their chances at having a suitable number of oocytes to preserve.

Success Rates:

As of 2006, more than 200 babies have been born as a result of cryopreserved eggs and IVF, most of them in Italy where governmental regulations have propelled scientists to rapidly fine-tune the methods. There have been no substantiated concerns about related birth defects or developmental delays.

Where You Can Find It:

Several IntegraMed clinics offer oocyte cryopreservation. Some use egg cryo only for patients prior to cancer or related therapies, while other clinics make it available also for patients with non-medical reasons. Additionally, egg freezing services are sometimes available for parents using donor egg treatment and who feel uncomfortable freezing embryos.

At Southeastern Fertility Center in South Carolina, egg freezing is available to donor egg recipients and to IVF patients with malignant diseases who are scheduled to undergo chemotherapy.

Because of the still-experimental nature of the technology, Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine finds egg freezing services to be most appropriate for patients with medical conditions requiring fertility-affecting treatment. In addition to serving the reproductive needs of patients who are about to undergo treatment for cancer, Reproductive Science Center of the San Francisco Bay Area has recently announced that it will also provide oocyte cryopreservation for healthy women who wish to delay conception. You'll find more information on egg freezing at their website.