Freezing of human eggs, also known as oocyte cryopreservation is the process of extracting and freezing human eggs to preserve them. When a woman desires to get pregnant the eggs are thawed and fertilized and the fertilized embryo is then inserted into the uterus.
It has long been possible to freeze and subsequently use male sperm successfully; even fertilized embryos were able to be frozen and reused, however it was not as easy to do the same with eggs (oocytes). This is because the freezing – thawing process tended to destroy the composition of the egg.
The egg is the largest cell in the human body and is made up of water mostly. When it is frozen, crystals of that water will form and damage the structure of the egg. This is why the success rate for developing viable embryos from frozen eggs was very low.
Now, however there are new technologies that involve very rapid freezing that have dramatically improved rates of producing viable embryos and successful pregnancies from frozen eggs.
The new technologies also use the process of dehydration of the egg prior to freezing, in order to obviate this problem of crystal formation that is seen to damage the egg’s integrity.
The process of freezing eggs or oocyte cryopreservation is an option for many women namely:
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