Plan motherhood when you feel ready. Become a parent at the right time.
It is increasingly common to postpone the moment of being a mother, whether for social, work, economic or health reasons. We know that from the age of 35 onwards, the quality and also the quantity of a woman’s eggs are very noticeably reduced.
Fertility preservation, also called egg cryopreservation, is a fairly effective alternative to postpone motherhood. What we do is to vitrify/freeze ova while they are still young so that we can use them later. Even if several years pass, with this technique we can avoid the effects of the passage of time; when we thaw the ova, we preserve the ‘age’ they were at the time of vitrification and, consequently, their quality as well, which gives a greater chance of pregnancy.
Oocyte vitrification is a technique in which eggs are treated with cryoprotectants and immersed in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196º C.
Thanks to this ultra-fast freezing, we are able to keep their priorities intact until we decide to thaw them for use in an assisted reproduction treatment. Frozen ova ‘do not expire’, i.e., they can remain in this state indefinitely without losing quality, always under certain conditions.
The survival rate of vitrified oocytes after thawing is estimated at around 90% and the pregnancy rate after transfer of embryos generated from frozen oocytes is around 50%. Results may vary depending on the technique itself and the characteristics of each person.
In any case, at Next Fertility ProCrea we carry out a fertility study on patients wishing to freeze eggs before the procedure to check each person’s possibilities and their specific situation.
The freezing of oocytes is advisable in the following circumstances:
Â
Treatment begins with ovarian stimulation of the woman. Therefore, drugs are used that enhance the development of follicles (the place where future ova mature). Normally, a woman matures only one egg per menstrual cycle, whereas this way several mature eggs can be obtained in a single cycle. The treatment is administered subcutaneously using ‘self-injection’ devices.
During ovarian stimulation treatment, periodic checks are carried out by vaginal ultrasound scans and, if necessary, hormone analyses; all this is done to check follicular maturation and to plan the right time for retrieval. This phase lasts between 10 and 12 days.
Egg retrieval is a very simple procedure that is carried out in the operating theatre, using a thin needle. The operation is performed through transvaginal ultrasound for the aspiration of the follicles. The process takes no more than 15 to 20 minutes and is carried out under sedation for the comfort and well-being of the patient.
It does not require hospitalisation, only rest for a few hours in our clinic room. Once this time has elapsed, you can resume your usual activity.
The resulting oocytes are cryopreserved using the vitrification technique (a process that is safer than traditional freezing techniques, avoids deterioration of the oocytes and guarantees an excellent survival rate after devitrification). The preservation is carried out in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees centigrade, until the oocytes are devitrified and then used by the IVF/ICSI technique to fulfil the desire to be a mother.
Get in touch with us and we will solve all your doubts about our treatments, techniques and promotions.
