The Science of Life: Ins and Outs of Egg Freezing

by Joanne P. Health Enthusiast

Frozen embryo transfer (FET) is a new type of infertility treatment. Patients who undertake the in vitro fertilization treatment with reliable fertility specialists in Davao may choose to freeze the extra embryos remained after the procedure in order to use them in an ulterior IVF treatment in case the current one doesn’t succeed. The frozen embryos can be transferred into the uterus later.

If you’re considering this procedure, read this article to know more about egg freezing and its advantages:

Short Description of the Egg Freezing Process

The embryos can be frozen from one to 5-6 days after the fertilization and they can be kept in good conditions even for 10 years.
The woman patient is given special medication by the IVF clinics in order to produce more eggs. The eggs are extracted using ultrasound guiding. Individual eggs (those that aren’t in a fluid at extraction) are kept for freezing and put in special glass tubes. Due to the fact that the eggs can be damaged by ice crystals that form between their cells, the specialists mix the eggs with an anti-freezing solution called cryoprotectant. After that the glass tubes with the embryos are put in a tank filled with liquid nitrogen where they are slowly frozen, the temperature reaches -196° C.
A day before the FET, the eggs are removed from the freezer and thawed one by one. The thawing process takes place naturally, then the cryoprotectant solution is removed and the embryos are warmed until they reach the temperature of 37°C. The eggs are injected with sperm and begin to transform into embryos. Afterward, the implantation of the embryo into the uterus can start.
The embryo transfer is a very simple and painless fertility treatment in Davao IVF clinics. It lasts for only 15-20 minutes. The embryos are introduced into a catheter that was previously inserted into the uterus. They will be deposited on the top of the uterus. After the embryo transfer, the patient can continue the fertility medications and 12 days after the transfer a pregnancy test is performed.

Success Rate and Advantages

The success of the FET procedure depends on the patient’s age and on the number of embryos that were transferred. Only 70% of the embryos survive the freezing process, that’s why it is very important freezing and thawing a big number of embryos before initializing the FET procedure. But all of these worth it considering the advantages of this procedure: women have the possibility to keep their fertility over time by freezing their eggs at an early age, this way the motherhood can be postponed disregarding the age impediment.