Egg Freezing

Egg Freezing

Egg freezing, also known as oocyte cryopreservation, is a technique in assisted reproductive technology (ART) that allows women to preserve their fertility by storing their unfertilized eggs for future use. This process is particularly beneficial for women who wish to delay childbearing due to career goals, medical reasons, or personal circumstances, as well as those facing medical treatments that may impact their fertility, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

The egg freezing process typically begins with a consultation with a fertility specialist to assess a woman's reproductive health and discuss her reasons for considering egg freezing. During this consultation, the woman may undergo tests to evaluate her ovarian reserve and overall fertility potential. Once deemed suitable, the woman can proceed with the egg freezing process.

To prepare for egg retrieval, the woman undergoes ovarian stimulation, a process involving hormone injections to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. Monitoring through blood tests and ultrasounds is conducted to assess the response to the medications and determine the optimal time for egg retrieval. The timing of egg retrieval is critical to ensure that mature eggs are collected for cryopreservation.

Egg retrieval is performed under sedation or anesthesia and involves a minimally invasive procedure called transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicle aspiration. A thin needle is inserted into the ovaries to aspirate the follicles containing the eggs. The retrieved eggs are then immediately frozen using a process called vitrification, which involves rapidly cooling the eggs to ultra-low temperatures to prevent ice crystal formation and preserve their viability.

Once frozen, the eggs are stored in specialized cryogenic tanks at a fertility clinic or egg bank until needed. When the woman is ready to use her frozen eggs to attempt pregnancy, they are thawed, fertilized with sperm through either in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and the resulting embryos are transferred into her uterus. Egg freezing offers women the flexibility to pursue their personal and professional goals without sacrificing their reproductive options, providing a means to preserve fertility and potentially achieve pregnancy in the future.