Oocyte Freezing

It is a method used to preserve women's fertility potential or to keep options open for pregnancy at advanced ages. In this procedure, eggs are collected from the woman's ovaries, frozen, and later thawed to be ready for fertilization when needed.

Why is it used?

Oocyte cryopreservation may be an option for women at risk of losing their fertility due to various reasons. These may include advanced age, cancer treatment (chemotherapy or radiotherapy), a family history of genetic diseases, medical interventions for medical reasons, or postponing pregnancy due to career or educational reasons.

How is the procedure performed?

Oocyte Stimulation: Hormonal medications are used to increase a woman's natural oocyte production for the oocyte cryopreservation process. These medications stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple oocytes.

Oocyte Retrieval: It may take several weeks for the oocytes to mature. When the oocytes are mature, they are collected through a surgical procedure (usually guided by ultrasound).

Freezing: The collected oocytes are prepared appropriately before freezing. Oocytes are frozen in tanks containing liquid nitrogen and stored for an extended period.

Thawing and Fertilization: At a later date when the woman is ready for pregnancy, the frozen oocytes are thawed and fertilized with sperm. The fertilized oocytes form embryos and become ready for transfer to the uterus.

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Advantages: Oocyte cryopreservation allows women to preserve their fertility potential at advanced ages, can prevent fertility loss after cancer treatment, and enables them to control the timing of pregnancy.

Disadvantages: The oocyte cryopreservation procedure can be costly, there may be side effects of hormonal medications, and it does not always guarantee the chance of achieving a pregnancy.