Advanced Fertility Services

Women who would benefit from the cryopreservation of unfertilized eggs are those who wish to ensure their future fertility or, because of malignant disease, require chemotherapy or radiation therapy which will render them irreversibly infertile.  When considering the feasibility of cryopreserving unfertilized eggs, a woman needs to initially determine her suitability for this process by checking her hormones (FSH, LH, and Estradiol) on the second or third day of her menstrual cycle. At the same time a vaginal ultrasound is performed in order to document that a good supply of eggs are present in her ovaries. 

When a woman is deemed to be a good candidate to produce a sufficient quantity of eggs for cryopreservation, her ovaries can be stimulated with fertility medications in a manner similar to that used for IVF. Egg follicle development is monitored with ultrasound measurement of ovarian follicle size and Estradiol levels. When the follicles are mature, another hormone, HCG, is administered to complete the maturation process.

The eggs are then harvested 36 hours thereafter, using ultrasound guided transvaginal aspiration with conscious sedation. The procedure usually takes between 5 and 10 minutes of actual operating time. 

Mature oocytes are then cryopreserved and stored in liquid nitrogen. Cryopreserved oocytes will be stored in an approved long-term cryopreservation facility.

At some future date, when a woman wishes to utilize her unfertilized cryopreserved eggs, they are transferred to an IVF facility. Unfertilized eggs do not fertilize naturally, because the freezing process makes them unreceptive to sperm penetration. Therefore, the direct injection of a single sperm into the egg, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), must be utilized in order to accomplish successful fertilization. Three to four days after fertilization, embryo transfer is performed with ultrasound guidance, to ensure proper embryo placement.

Several important issues must be understood by any woman who contemplates having her unfertilized eggs cryopreserved for future use. Primarily, the younger a woman is when she elects to cryopreserve her eggs, the more likely are the eggs to result in a pregnancy. Secondly, many eggs must be retrieved since many unfertilized eggs may not survive the freezing process, because they are so delicate. If, at any age a woman does not produce a good number of egg follicles with fertility drugs, then cryopreservation is not a viable option.

The cost of the procedure exclusive of the initial consultation, sonogram, blood tests and fertility medications is $7,000. Storage fees are currently approximately $300 per year. The cost of oocyte thawing, fertilization, ICSI, and transfer at current rates are $4,500. 

The risks and complications of this procedure - the use of fertility drugs and the egg retrieval procedure are the same as those described for IVF.