Egg Freezing

Clearly one of the biggest issues facing our patients is advancing age. We cannot turn back the biologic clock and it is not fair that Strom Thurman can become a father at age 84 and for women after age 35 fertility really starts to drop. If only we had a way to determine the number of health eggs remaining in a woman, then we could give accurate assessments of the chances for success. Unfortunately, there is no test for egg quality that is definitive.

So now that egg freezing seems to be working a bit better the use of this technology to preserve fertility has been debated. A few general issues need to be understood. First of all, although almost 5 MILLION babies have been born after traditional IVF, there have been perhaps around 500 babies born from frozen eggs. The problem is multi-factorial. Many eggs fail to freeze or thaw successfully and those that do need ICSI to endure fertilization. With the increasing adoption of vitrification (rapid freezing that instantly occurs) success rates are on the rise.

However, should this still be considered experimental?? Probably. Should patients have to pay for an experimental procedure? I guess...although this seems inappropriate to me personally (but since we don't offer fertility preservation from egg freezing -- yet, I guess my view is biased).

So this remains controversial. Here is a PDF file of the most recent position statement by the ASRM about egg freezing. It is comprehensive and pretty informative...I think.

Of course, if you want to debate egg freezing with us in person, be sure to drop by the Clarendon Barnes and Noble bookstore on Saturday January 26th from 12 noon until 2 PM. You don't even need to buy a book...