Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the potential benefits of freezing unfertilized oocytes.
The most apparent benefits would be:
Facilitation and reduction in the cost of oocyte donation.
Provide a mechanism to "maintain" the
reproductive potential of women undergoing deleterios therapies (e.g.,
chemotherapy). The technology so far applied clinically has been based
directly on traditional human embryo cryopreservation protocols, and
has produced relatively few offspring.
In spite of concerns over the disruption of meiotic spindle and thus increased
potential for aneuploidy, to date, no abnormalities have been reported
from these pregnancies.
However, standard cryopreservation technologies appear to
have their limitations...not only in survival...but in consistency.
Presently a 50 percent survival is noted in the literature, but this statistic
is arrived at by 90-100 percent survival in one case and 0-10 percent in
the next!
Consequently, significant more research is needed.
Egg freezing produced its first baby more than nine years ago, however, until recently the technique was considered experimental and was
used primarily for patients who had cancer and who were about to undergo chemotherapy that would damage their eggs. Recent breakthroughs in egg freezing techniques have enabled scientists to better cryopreserve the unfertilized egg and now several hundred babies around the world have been born from thawed eggs.
During the past several years, La Jolla IVF performed egg freezing for several
patients who wished to bank their eggs. These patients were generally fairly young, healthy and seemingly fertile. However, they felt they were bumping up
against their biological clocks. These patients wanted to preserve their options
for motherhood and believed that freezing their eggs was the best alternative currently available.
La Jolla IVF was featured in several egg freezing articles in both the May 2004 issue of Glamour Magazine and in the San Diego Union Tribune in May 2004. Dr. David Smotrich of La Jolla IVF says, "I am cautiously optimistic regarding the
technique of freezing eggs which could potentially allow women to preserve their fertility into the future."
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