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Obstetrician, geneticist, embryologist

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Eggs freezing

Alexey Portnov, medical expert
Last reviewed: 20.11.2021

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Oocyte freezing (oocytes) or vitrification / cryopreservation is a popular method by which women's eggs are frozen in order to use them in the future. Many world experts believe that vitrification makes it possible to obtain promising and positive results. A woman is a delicate creature. The same statement is true for eggs. That's why this procedure should be trusted only by real professionals.

Thanks to vitrification, motherhood can be postponed to a later date. In this case, the method is considered one of the most effective, since during oocyte freezing, 100% of the eggs survive. In addition, the frozen egg has the same characteristics as the normal egg. Due to this, a woman can receive embryos for implantation or become pregnant even after 50-60 years.

It is believed that vitrification is best performed at a young age (up to thirty years), since after thirty-five, women not only have a reduced number of oocytes, but their quality also deteriorates significantly. There is also a method of slow egg freezing, which was popular only recently. But with him a woman can not always be sure of a successful outcome. Due to vitrification during freezing, ice crystals do not appear, which destroy the egg after a while. In addition, rapid freezing does not destroy the structure of oocytes.

Indications for ovum frost

If you believe the latest statistics, vitrification and cryopreservation are popular methods among women aged 25 to 35 years. Who is shown this method?

If the pair has an unstable financial situation at the moment. The woman tries to wait, when their family starts to receive stable and high enough income to afford the birth of a child. But eggs grow old, so their freezing is an excellent solution to the problem.
The impossibility of creating a family at this stage of life. Not every woman immediately finds her soul mate. Sometimes it takes years to find a suitable man, and you do not really want to give birth to a child. It is cryopreservation that will help in this case not to worry about aging and get pregnant from the person you choose to be the ideal father.
If it is necessary to perform surgical operations or other similar procedures for stenosis of the cervical canal or endometriosis, as well as in the presence of tumors. Sometimes taking certain important medications can cause infertility. Therefore, it is possible to freeze the eggs before the procedure in order to be able to become a mother in the future.
If a woman works under the constant influence of harmful or aggressive substances.
In genetic diseases, vitrification allows you to select those oocytes in which there are no genetic defects for the birth of a healthy child.
Some experts believe that defrosting eggs significantly improves their characteristics, so a woman can become pregnant with a large percentage.
If there is a need for removal of the uterus or ovaries.

Preparation for freezing

To prepare a woman to freeze eggs, a procedure is performed that is similar to stimulation of the ovaries during artificial insemination. Stimulation of the ovaries takes place according to all rules of the protocol. After this, through the vagina transvaginal sensor the doctor takes the eggs.

On the same day, after an incident of several hours, the eggs obtained are frozen. The patient must sign a contract for the collection and storage of oocytes before the fence procedure.

Technique of egg freezing

For cryoconservation, the egg is first completely dehydrated, so that the water after freezing does not damage the structure of the oocytes. After that, all the cavities are filled with special substances (cryoprotectants), in which the structure of the polysaccharide and monosaccharide is preserved. It is very important that the expert correctly selects the exposure time, as well as the ratio of non-penetrating and penetrating cryoprotectants.

Thanks to this technology, almost 100% survival of biological material is obtained for a long time.

When cryopreservation, an appropriately chosen temperature regime plays an important role. The standard for this procedure is a temperature of at least -196 degrees Celsius. Capsules with the obtained oocytes are placed in liquid nitrogen, due to which all biochemical processes stop in the cells. Thus, eggs can be stored for a very long time.

When using a low temperature, living objects may die. That is why it is very important to implement all necessary protective measures.

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