Dr Richa Sharma, Dr Amit Basnotra
A recent study of women opting to freeze their eggs for non-medical reasons has revealed that the most significant factor behind their decision is difficulty in finding the right partner. A latest research on heterosexual women In European countries, aged between 32 and 44, who had decided to freeze their eggs, and asked them reasons for doing so.
Contrary to prevalent perceptions surrounding ‘social’ egg freezing, the results exhibited that no participant opted to freeze their eggs for career reasons.
It has been found that for these women ‘it was about finding the right potential father for their child – a male partner who is committed to parenthood and is going to perform the role of the hands-on father and would share the pleasures and pains of upbringing equally.’
Who all can undertake Oocyte and Ovarian Freezing ?
* Improve the efficiency of IVF
* Alternative to embryo freezing
* Oocyte preservation for patients with ovarian hyper
* stimulation syndrome
* Oocyte donation programme( for quarantine purpose)
* The treatment of congenital infertility disorders
* Prevent fertility loss through surgery
* Treatment of premature ovarian failure (POF)
* Also in cancer patients prior to exposure to chemotherapy or radiotherapy(fertility Cryopreservation)
* In career oriented females who want to plan family later due to other commitments
* In case male partner not available or not able to give semen sample (ED/refuses)
* In cases of TFF esp when repeated risk is there- half of the oocytes can be cryopreserved to find out the reason for TFF(as to whether egg or sperm)
What was the actual purpose to begin with ?
The mechanism of freezing women’s eggs was initially introduced for female cancer patients who run the risk of losing their fertility during the treatment. However, the technique is now widely availed by women across world for non-medical reasons. This trend is gaining traction tremendously, with an exponential sky high surge in the same.
Limitations and Risks-
Few risks that are associated with egg freezing. Evidence suggests that many women don’t freeze their eggs until their fertility starts declining sharply (the average age of women freeze their eggs is 38), and this – coupled with difficulties in getting pregnant later – means that women who invest in freezing their eggs don’t always achieve successful pregnancy. This is the biggest drawback .
Where it is done ?
It done in various IVF centres which have the required skills and facilities for the same. Oocyte cryopreservation is no more experimental/research modality. It is now routinely done in indicated cases
How it is done ?
In this after baseline workup, you will be given the egg forming injections(Gonadotropins) from day 2/day 3 of your periods and once the eggs are mature, they are taken out and the best possible eggs will be frozen for the future use.
Freezing duration is as per ICMR recommendations from 1 to 5 years while in western world it has been upto till 10 years and they are reconsidering to extend the duration.
Results- Recovery of eggs on thawing depends on quality of eggs at time of freezing.Even recovery rate upto 80 percent has been mentioned.
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