Oocyte cryopreservation is the medical term for egg freezing. An oocyte is a female egg. Egg freezing enables women who, because of life circumstances or health complications, cannot experience pregnancy during their most fertile years or who simply wish to postpone maternity until the time is right for them to start a family. Studies have shown that most infertility problems are caused by age-related cell deterioration. Since the uterus remains completely functional in most elderly women, this implies that the woman’s eggs need to be preserved.
We can extract, freeze and store oocytes. The procedure gives women the option of having their eggs thawed, fertilized, and transferred to the uterus as embryos to facilitate a pregnancy sometime in the future. This procedure’s success rate varies depending on the age of the woman and ranges from 14.8 percent if the woman is 40 to 31.5 percent if the eggs were extracted when the woman is 25.
The term fertility preservation generally applies to helping cancer patients retain their fertility despite chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which can affect a woman’s reproductive health. These regimens attack healthy, rapidly dividing cells like sperm and eggs. They can have varying effects on reproductive health. The loss of reproductive function is temporary in many cancer patients, but many others do not regain their fertility after cancer treatment. The idea is to give cancer patients the option to have children sometime after their cancer treatment has been completed.
Learn more about oocyte cryopreservation and fertility preservation at Reprosave. We work with patients from all over Southern California, from the communities in and around Orange County, as well as Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield, San Bernardino, and Riverside County. Please feel free to use our convenient Request an Appointment form.
