Fertility preservation techniques such as egg freezing can support your chances of conceiving in the future.
Alongside freezing of embryos, sperm, and ovarian tissue, egg freezing is a method of reserving future reproductive potential for when you’re feeling more prepared for parenthood. There are a multitude of reasons that people undertake fertility preservation, including both medical and personal grounds.
A number of factors can impact your reproductive ability. For women, the most significant of these is increasing age, as egg quality and quantity naturally decline over time. Certain medical conditions or medical treatments can also affect your ability to conceive. However, for some people, the best timing for starting a family isn’t always during your peak fertile years.
Fertility preservation involves freezing, also known as cryopreservation, of eggs, sperm, embryos, or reproductive organ tissue for use later to help you conceive when you’re ready.
You may wish to consider your options with fertility preservation if you:
Egg freezing can offer peace of mind to women and those assigned female at birth who may want to have children in the future but aren’t ready yet. It can also be a valuable option for individuals undergoing treatment to transition to male but who want to retain their chances of having biological children.
A comprehensive consultation with Dr Anna provides insight into your situation, including the current state of your fertility and your overall health. During this appointment, it is also important to discuss whether egg freezing is a suitable option for preserving your fertility. As Medicare support may be available if you have a medical indication for fertility preservation but not for personal reasons, Dr Anna will conduct a thorough fertility assessment to ensure you receive all eligible entitlements.
Similar to ovarian stimulation during IVF, you will be taught how to administer injections of a hormone medication at home. These injections need to be taken daily over a period of a week and a half to two weeks, and are designed to encourage your ovaries to mature and release multiple eggs within the cycle.
In a simple day procedure, your eggs will be collected directly from your ovaries with the use of a fine needle guided by ultrasound. This procedure is performed under sedation, and you can return home on the same day.
The retrieved eggs are transported immediately to an embryology lab for assessment. Mature, good quality eggs are rapidly cooled using a technique known as vitrification. This helps to avoid the formation of ice crystals and preserve the integrity of the eggs. These frozen eggs are then safely stored in liquid nitrogen at Genea’s facilities under constant surveillance by experienced technicians until you need them.
Although preserving your fertility through egg freezing will significantly improve your chances of having a baby in older age or after fertility-impacting medical treatments or conditions, it is not a fail-safe guarantee.
In general, the chances of successfully developing a healthy embryo using frozen eggs will be higher for women who froze their eggs at a younger age, as doing this preserves the age and quality of the egg of that moment. Other factors influencing treatment success rates with frozen eggs and the likelihood of a live birth include how many eggs were retrieved and frozen, how many survive the freezing and thawing process, and whether you have other health conditions affecting pregnancy.
Extra healthy embryos created through IVF/ICSI that aren’t used for transfer may be frozen and stored if you choose to add to your family again in the future.
A slice of egg-producing tissue is taken from the ovaries, frozen and stored. Later, this tissue can be grafted back onto the ovary where it can again begin producing eggs and the necessary hormones for fertility. Ovarian tissue freezing is considered for pre-pubescent girls who have not yet started ovulating (menstruating) or women who are not suitable for egg freezing.
Sperm freezing is most commonly recommended for men and those assigned male at birth for medical reasons or those at risk of infertility due to high-risk environmental or occupational exposure. After producing a semen sample, this fluid is prepared for freezing by washing and adding a cryoprotectant solution to prevent cellular damage, before being frozen.
