Oocyte Vitrification (Egg Freezing)

Egg freezing is a great way for women to preserve their eggs without the pressures of the biological clock.

Dr. Craig Witz: Oocyte cryopreservation is also called egg freezing. The usual reason that women need to have this therapy perform is because they had a recent diagnoses of disease that going to lead to treatment at will ultimately render them sterile. The most common situation is the woman who has recently been diagnosed with cancer and faces treatment with chemotherapy or radiation. That chemotherapy or radiation may affect the ovulation; prevent the ovulation from the future from producing oocyte or egg. Ultimately then the women will become stereos. The idea is that we give women the medication that stimulates the ovary to produce multiple oocytes. Those oocytes are retrieved from the ovary and then subsequently frozen. After recovery from the disease such a remission from cancer, the oocytes are thawed, the woman then go to the cycle of in vitro fertilization in which the oocytes we use from the previous cryopreservation. The oocytes are fertilized and they then become embryos, embryos are places into the uterus. It is a matter of controversy as a whether woman should electively choose to have oocytes frozen at the younger age to defer child bearing. The issue is that many women may not be prepared to start the family at the younger age. Women are choosing career may take a significant of time to become establish and may require a longer period of education. The American Society of Reproductive Medicine, our professional society has classified that form of therapy that is elective oocyte cryoperservation as experimental. However, there are members of our society of the American of Reproductive Medicine that is feel that the classification as experimental should be changed. There are other forms of therapy that may be required and available for women who have cancer that don’t include oocyte cryoperservation. The physicians at Houston Fertility Institute ready to discuss all of these options with you. We are sensitive to the fact that time may be the essence and we can ensure you that there will be no delay to making an appointment for you.