Fertility Preservation

Overview

Prolonging your ability to have children is increasingly becoming a real option, whether you make this choice because of a cancer treatment, a different medical reason, or because you wish to delay having children until later in life.

At Venus Womens Clinic & IVF Centre we offer fertility preservation service to enable you to protect and preserve sperm, eggs and embryos for the future, so when the time is right, we’ll be here to help you to achieve the best pregnancy outcomes.

Fertility preservation is beneficial in various circumstances, including where:

• You have a serious illness such as cancer and have to undergo treatment that may result in the loss of fertility.

• You want to have children but are not ready to do so now and are concerned about the effects ageing might have on your chances of having a family.

• You are at risk of early menopause.

• You have a genetic disorder that may limit fertility.

Sperm Cryopreservation

Sperm freezing and storage is the procedure whereby sperm cells are frozen to preserve them for future use. Scientists freeze the sperm using a special media, then keep sperm in liquid nitrogen at minus 196oC, which can be stored for many years while maintaining a reasonable quality.

There are many situations that could interfere with your future fertility. These may include:

• Chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

• Certain types of pelvic or testicular surgery.

• Vasectomy.

• High-risk occupations or sports.

• Diabetes may cause erectile difficulty.

• Being away from home on the day of assisted reproductive treatment.

• Anxiety on the day of treatment (backup storage)

Frozen sperm can be used for Intra-Uterine Insemination (IUI) if its post-thaw quality is good enough. If the sperm quality is reduced due to illness or other factors, it might be necessary to undertake In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), a specialised form of IVF whereby individual sperm is injected directly into the eggs.

Oocyte Cryopreservation

Egg freezing involves a woman’s mature eggs being developed and removed using standard IVF treatment techniques. This process typically involves three stages of treatment: pituitary suppression, ovarian stimulation and egg retrieval.

Five main groups of women seek this reproductive service:

1. Women who wish to have children at a later date. These women are aware that fertility declines with age and are choosing to undergo IVF treatment sooner, storing their eggs for the future.

2. Women with cancer, as chemotherapy and radiation treatment can have a harmful effect on fertility, rendering many of these women menopausal.

3. Women who are at risk of early menopause or have a genetic disorder that could limit fertility (e.g., Turner syndrome).

4. Individuals or couples who, for religious or ethical reasons, are opposed to freezing embryos that result from IVF treatments and are more comfortable with storing unfertilised eggs instead.

5. Couples who have no sperm retrievable on the day of their egg collection.

Embryo cryopreservation

Embryo cryopreservation or embryo freezing is the process of freezing and storing the extra embryos for future use. Cryopreservation of embryo is often a part of IVF (in-vitro fertilization) programs.

Embryo cryopreservation or embryo freezing also gives an additional opportunity for pregnancy, through Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET). This way the women don’t have to undergo another ovarian stimulation and retrieval process.

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Fertility Preservation

Table of Contents

Overview

Sperm Cryopreservation

Oocyte Cryopreservation

Embryo cryopreservation

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