Novel Egg Freezing Technique Opens The Door
Vitrification is a novel technique for freezing human eggs (also referred to as oocytes), which is opening the door to long-term human egg storage. Traditional methods of human egg cryopreservation have met with limited success. The scientific team at Georgia Reproductive Specialists (GRS), who were responsible for the first frozen human egg births in North America in 1997, have successfully implemented the new technique of vitrification and celebrate the birth this month of the newest baby born as a result of this technique.
It is GRS' intention to be able to offer egg freezing (oocyte cryopreservation) as a viable solution for women desiring to preserve their eggs for future use. Some of the potential applications of egg freezing are as follows:
- Egg banking for women wishing to preserve their fertility following cancer therapy
- Egg banking for women delaying pregnancy
- Establishment of a donor egg bank
- Rescue of excess eggs from an unexpectedly strong stimulation of the ovaries during an Artificial Insemination (Intrauterine Insemination - IUI) treatment cycle
Currently GRS has research programs in the last two areas; and the latest "frozen egg baby" arrived as a result of the rescue of excess eggs, which would have otherwise been discarded in an IUI cycle. Had these eggs been allowed to remain in the ovaries during the IUI cycle, the woman would have run an extremely high risk of conceiving with a multiple pregnancy potentially endangering both her and her babies.
Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, painful ovarian enlargement, is another potential complication that may result from an overly vigorous response to ovulation medications. While traditionally this leads to canceling the treatment cycle or converting to standard IVF, GRS' approach allows both a safe attempt at pregnancy within the IUI cycle and, if the pregnancy does not occur, then the woman is able to use her "rescued" frozen eggs to attempt pregnancy with routine in vitro fertilization.
On June 5th, the first such reported use of this exciting technology established a clear approach for the use of egg freezing to reduce the costs and risks involved in modern reproductive medicine.
Georgia Reproductive Specialists (GRS) applies medical science's most advanced fertility technologies to provide the highest standards of patient- centered, reproductive healthcare. The staff at GRS, including infertility laboratory pioneer Michael Tucker, Ph.D., is focused on providing individualized, innovative solutions for reproductive challenges and infertility, specializing in in vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmic sperm injection and other assisted reproductive technologies.
Fellowship-trained reproductive endocrinologists Dr. Susan C. Conway, Dr. Carolyn Kaplan and Dr. Mark Perloe are experts in female and male disorders including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), repeated pregnancy loss, menstrual disorders and azoospermia. GRS has three offices, Atlanta, Alpharetta and Decatur, to conveniently serve patients across Metro Atlanta. For more information about Georgia Reproductive Specialists, visit http://www.ivf.com.
It is GRS' intention to be able to offer egg freezing (oocyte cryopreservation) as a viable solution for women desiring to preserve their eggs for future use. Some of the potential applications of egg freezing are as follows:
- Egg banking for women wishing to preserve their fertility following cancer therapy
- Egg banking for women delaying pregnancy
- Establishment of a donor egg bank
- Rescue of excess eggs from an unexpectedly strong stimulation of the ovaries during an Artificial Insemination (Intrauterine Insemination - IUI) treatment cycle
Currently GRS has research programs in the last two areas; and the latest "frozen egg baby" arrived as a result of the rescue of excess eggs, which would have otherwise been discarded in an IUI cycle. Had these eggs been allowed to remain in the ovaries during the IUI cycle, the woman would have run an extremely high risk of conceiving with a multiple pregnancy potentially endangering both her and her babies.
Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, painful ovarian enlargement, is another potential complication that may result from an overly vigorous response to ovulation medications. While traditionally this leads to canceling the treatment cycle or converting to standard IVF, GRS' approach allows both a safe attempt at pregnancy within the IUI cycle and, if the pregnancy does not occur, then the woman is able to use her "rescued" frozen eggs to attempt pregnancy with routine in vitro fertilization.
On June 5th, the first such reported use of this exciting technology established a clear approach for the use of egg freezing to reduce the costs and risks involved in modern reproductive medicine.
Georgia Reproductive Specialists (GRS) applies medical science's most advanced fertility technologies to provide the highest standards of patient- centered, reproductive healthcare. The staff at GRS, including infertility laboratory pioneer Michael Tucker, Ph.D., is focused on providing individualized, innovative solutions for reproductive challenges and infertility, specializing in in vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmic sperm injection and other assisted reproductive technologies.
Fellowship-trained reproductive endocrinologists Dr. Susan C. Conway, Dr. Carolyn Kaplan and Dr. Mark Perloe are experts in female and male disorders including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), repeated pregnancy loss, menstrual disorders and azoospermia. GRS has three offices, Atlanta, Alpharetta and Decatur, to conveniently serve patients across Metro Atlanta. For more information about Georgia Reproductive Specialists, visit http://www.ivf.com.
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