Everything you wanted to know about IVF embryo freezing, explained.
Everything you wanted to know about IVF embryo freezing, explained
The procedure that involves removing eggs from the ovaries, fertilizing them to create embryos, and freezing them for later use is called embryo freezing.
IVF embryo freezing is widely used today, allowing couples all over the world to experience parenthood.
In many instances, a successful IVF cycle can result in multiple embryos. When this happens, freezing some of them for future family building is a decision many couples make – and it’s a good decision.
IVF embryo freezing is a technique that also preserves fertility in case you wish to postpone conceiving for personal of health reasons.
However, embryo cryopreservation does not necessarily last years – couples may need to freeze embryos for a few days or weeks, until they receive their preimplantation genetic testing results.
In short, embryo freezing is a very common procedure when it comes to IVF.
The IVF embryo freezing process begins by retrieving eggs – the total number depends on your response to hormone medication. At this point, it’s possible to freeze unfertilized eggs as well.
To create an embryo (a fertilized egg), an embryologist fertilizes one or more of the retrieved eggs with the sperm of a partner or donor and observes them as they grow for a few days. At this stage, embryos can be genetically tested, especially if one of the partners is known to carry a genetic disorder, while the fertility specialist will also determine whether standard IVF or IVF with ICSI will be preferred.
Finally, the embryos most likely to grow successfully when implanted, will be frozen for future use and follow the typical IVF Process Timeline once the couple is ready.
When it comes to IVF and cryopreservation, embryo freezing gives women significant information: they know from the beginning how many eggs were healthy enough to fertilize.
This is an important advantage of IVF embryo freezing over egg freezing, as there are no unfortunate “surprises” later on, when perhaps there is no time for alternatives.
When deciding between freezing eggs vs. freezing embryos, each individual’s “reproductive autonomy” plays a key part. By freezing eggs only (i.e. not embryos) women don’t have to make important co-parenting decisions immediately, meaning they preserve their fertility independently. Moreover, single women don’t have to rely on IVF with donor sperm, which gives them the ability to find a partner down the line and have biological children with them.
Regarding IVF embryo freezing success rates, these are not considerably different to the egg freezing ones.
The chance of pregnancy from frozen embryo transfer is largely dependent on the woman’s age at the time embryos were created. Embryos from women aged 35 or younger have higher chances of resulting in a pregnancy.
Lastly, research shows that over 95% of frozen embryos survive thawing.
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