Egg freezing is a procedure that consists of freezing your mature eggs (acolytes) prior to any fertilization. Your stored eggs can later be thawed and fertilized with your partners or donor sperm during an IVF treatment at a time that is right for you in the future.

Egg freezing is provided at Ankur Fertility as a method of preserving your fertility for use in future treatment. Some women choose to freeze their eggs for medical reasons, e.g. they have been diagnosed with cancer or other serious illnesses which is likely to affect their ovaries and can prevent them from producing eggs in the future, or perhaps because they are at risk of early menopause.

Other women may decide for social reasons (single women or women wishing to delay childbearing due to career reasons) that they wish to preserve their fertility at an optimum time in their reproductive life, in preparation for treatment later on in life. If freezing for social reasons it is advisable to freeze your eggs whilst you are younger in age. The quality of the eggs deteriorates with advanced age notably after 38 years.

Similar to the early stages of an IVF cycle, at the start of an egg freezing procedure, you will be required to administer a series of medications to induct ovulation – this helps your body prepare eggs for collection. We will monitor your progress and reaction to these medications with ultrasounds and blood tests to pinpoint the time of ovulation ready for an egg collection procedure.

Your mature eggs will then be collected (retrieved) from the follicles of your ovaries during a short procedure at the clinic under deep sedation or anaesthetic. Your eggs are collected using a thin needle inserted into your ovaries and then sent to our laboratory to prepare them for vitrification.

You will be required to take a short time to recover from the procedure prior to going home.

Once eggs have been frozen, their quality will not deteriorate whilst frozen. However, eggs cannot be stored indefinitely as per HFEA requirements, which set a limit of 10 years on the storage of eggs. This period can be extended in certain circumstances, in periods of 10 years up to a total of 55 years.

Eggs that have been frozen and are to be used for future treatments, after thawing, are injected with sperm as in ICSI/IMSI procedure to achieve fertilisation, prior to a viable embryo or blastocyst transfer into your uterus to develop as in a normal pregnancy.

The egg collection is a relatively non-invasive procedure that carries minimal risk. However, stimulation of the ovaries has been associated with ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). Mild to moderate OHSS can be managed with pain medications and will usually resolve on its own within a couple of weeks. You may also experience some pain or abdominal cramping after egg collection, similar to that of getting your period.

1 in 10 of all cancer cases occur in adults of reproductive age. With rapid advances in treatment options for young adults and women of reproductive age with cancer, the long term survival for many previously poor prognosis diseases is much improved.

However, some surgeries and many forms of chemotherapy or radiation therapy that have proven so effective in improving survival rates may severely compromise ovarian, testicular or uterine function. Their damaging effect on developing eggs within the ovary may lead to a dramatic loss in ovarian function, amenorrhea (loss of cyclical pattern) that may be irreversible and possibly early menopause. Women of reproductive age that receive such a diagnosis may therefore be facing potential loss of future fertility or diminishment in the chances of future childbearing.

These treatments do not have to end the hopes of having a family. Today, in some but not all cases, women with cancer may have the option to preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs or embryos before undergoing cancer treatment and men will have the opportunity to freeze sperm.

We recognize that the initial focus of care should always be the mapping out of the most successful treatment strategy with your oncology team. In parallel to this, and in conjunction with the oncology team the Lister Fertility Clinic will be able to discuss fertility preservation options in more detail and potentially plan treatment within 48 hours if necessary. If appropriate, and after discussion you decide to proceed with a fertility preservation option, treatment can start immediately so as not to delay any of the planned oncological treatment.

Where required (for example estrogen dependent breast malignancies), we utilise specific oestrogen-limiting protocols that aim to maximise response but minimise the oestrogen exposure that may be detrimental.

Our aim is to eliminate some of the barriers to preservation by providing a simple pathway for rapid referral, with ease of access to written information and oncofertility counseling, direct access to treating reproductive specialist and a one-stop preparation for treatment.