Embryo cryopreservation

What is it?

Recent breakthroughs and development in technology have now enabled us to preserve a woman's eggs (oocyte) for later use.

When is it appropriate?

Oocyte cryopreservation offers the prospect of broadening the fertility options available to various groups of people for a variety of reasons:

1. Women due to undergo chemotherapy/radiotherapy or cancer related surgery that might put their fertility at risk.
2. Women who are not yet ready to start their families due to study/career demands, financial insecurity or single women who have not yet found a partner.
3. In donor oocyte programs, there would no longer be a need to synchronize donor and recipient cycles. Ova banks could be established thus avoiding the long waiting periods where the patients wait for appropriately matched donors.
4. Circumventing, ethical, religious and legal issues associated with embryo freezing or insemination of multiple numbers of oocytes.
5. Patients whose treatment cycle has to be halted after oocyte aspiration due to an event such as hyper-stimulation or the inability of the male partner to produce a semen sample.