Egg Freezing and Storage
If you would like to store your eggs, the following reasons may be relevant:
- You have been diagnosed with cancer and need chemotherapy, and you are not in a relationship.
- You want to store eggs because you are concerned that you might marry later in life and do not want to have a small chance of success and a high risk of abnormalities.
- You want to store eggs as a backup for personal reasons.
Once the eggs are frozen, they do not age, so even if you transfer them five years later, they will still be the same age as when they were frozen.
Sperm Freezing and Storage
Many patients opt for sperm freezing for later use. The sperm is cryopreserved using cryoprotectants that protect and buffer sperm during the freezing process. Patients freeze sperm for many reasons, including:
- Cancer treatments: It is highly advised to freeze sperm before cancer treatments, especially in younger patients, which can then be used later for assisted reproduction.
- Surgery: Many patients may undergo surgeries to the testicular region or associated areas related to male reproduction. These surgeries may cause infertility or subfertility, hence sperm is cryopreserved as a backup in case fertility is affected by the surgery.
- Social freezing: Generally frozen when younger for later use.
- Work commitments: Patients are sometimes not available on the day of fertility treatment to produce a sample due to work commitments or being out of the country or province. Hence, semen samples are cryopreserved in advance for use on the day of the fertility treatment.
Embryo Freezing and Storage
If you would like to store your embryos, the following reasons may be relevant:
- You have undergone an IVF cycle and have additional high-quality embryos that you would like to preserve for future use.
- You want to delay pregnancy for personal or professional reasons but wish to ensure a higher success rate by using embryos created at a younger age.
- You have a medical condition or are undergoing treatment that may affect your fertility in the future, such as chemotherapy for cancer.
- You prefer to have embryos available for a potential future sibling to maintain genetic consistency within your family.
Once the embryos are frozen, they do not age, so even if you transfer them five years later, they will still be the same age as when they were frozen. This process allows you to plan your family according to your timeline while maintaining the viability and quality of the embryos.