Egg Freezing : Breaking Barriers or Evolution of Family Planning, 03 Tests

Egg Freezing – In this modern era, there are some areas where old thinking people still live and there newly married couples are pressured to have a child early. However, they do not have any bad intention behind pressurizing because with increasing age of women, the quality of egg / Ovum becomes weak due to which the chances of having a child are reduced. But, You do not need to worry about it because science has found a solution for this too, which we call egg freezing.

Egg freezing is a miracle of modern science in which a woman can give birth to a child at any age or whenever she wants. If you want to know everything about egg freezing then read this article till the end.

What is Egg Freezing?

Egg freezing is sometimes called oocyte cryopreservation. It is a method in which eggs (Ova / Ovum) are extracted from women’s ovaries, frozen, and kept for later use. So, when you’re ready for a pregnancy, the eggs are de-freeze and mixed with sperm in a laboratory, and the fertilized egg is inserted into the uterus. This implies that following egg freezing, you will undoubtedly require IVF to become pregnant.

There is also another option here which we call embryo preservation. In this, instead of insulting the fertilized egg into the uterus, the embryo that has formed is frozen for later use. Now, the question is

Which is better: Egg Freezing or Embryo preservation?

Although, Both the techniques are almost similar but in case of embryo preservation, you need a partner. So the answer is simple, if you are married or sure about your partner then embryo cryopreservation will give a better pregnancy rate but in case you are not married then it is better to go for the egg freezing.

When should you go for Egg freezing?

It completely depends on you or your loved ones i.e who care about you. There can be lots of situations and conditions that may force you to choose the way of egg freezing. Some are as follows.

If you wish to delay the birth of your kid for whatever reason and are concerned that your ovarian reserve is declining, it might be due to your profession, educational reasons, or the fact that you have not yet met the ideal partner.

God forbid this happens but if unfortunately you are diagnosed with cancer, we recommend you to proceed for egg freezing before starting treatment. Because treatments like chemotherapy or radiotherapy are toxic to the eggs.

In case you are at risk for premature ovarian failure, it may be because there is a history of early menopause in your family. You may be going for ovarian surgery, which may reduce your ovarian reserve or have some chromosomal abnormalities like fragile x syndrome or turner syndrome also increases the risk of early menopause.

What are the tests to be done before the egg freezing?

A woman who wishes to proceed with egg freezing, they have to go through only 03 tests which are following.

AMH – This is a normal blood test that is called AMH (anti-mulevin hormone)
AFC – Women have to go for ultrasound on the 2nd and 3rd day of period to check for the antral follicle count (AFC).
Screening for infectious diseases – We want to screen women for infectious diseases like HIV. Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.

AMH and AFC are the two tests that ensure the quantity and the quality of eggs which are available to us and to predict the response of the ovary to the fertility drugs which will be used in the ovarian stimulation for the egg freezing.

How is egg freezing done?

This process usually takes 10 days for a healthy woman. First, you have to visit the fertility clinic that is reliable, accountable and easily accessible to you. Then you need to consult with a doctor and find out if you are fit for egg freezing and do you really need it?. After consultation if you decide to go with the process of egg freezing then you have to proceed with the 03 stages that are following.

Ovulation Induction / Ovarian Stimulation
Retrieval of eggs
Freezing of eggs

Ovulation Induction / Ovarian Stimulation

When the period starts typically on day two or day three of the cycle, certain drugs which are known as gonadotropins are given to stimulate the ovary to form multiple eggs. These follicles typically take about 09 to 12 days to finally mature. You would have to go for regular follicular studies on the ultrasound to see how the follicles or the eggs are responding to these medications and then finally an injection which is known as HCG injection is given to achieve the final maturation of the eggs.

To increase the egg quality you need to follow a healthy lifestyle. For that you can take a high protein diet and fruits, also you have to increase your water intake. You can do some yoga or exercise, and meditation.

Retrieval of eggs

Now once on the ultrasound, we find that the eggs are mature and ready to be harvested. Now the patient is taken to the operation theatre. This is a procedure which is done under anaesthesia preferably. An ultrasound probe is put into the vagina to locate the mature follicles. Then a needle is finally guided into the vagina into the follicles and the eggs are carefully sucked out.

Freezing of eggs

After retrieval of eggs, they are frozen immediately to subzero temperatures which are – 96 degree Fahrenheit. Because at this temperature, all biological activity in that living cell is completely halted. These days we have advanced techniques like vitrification or using cryoprotectants for the freezing.

Cryoprotectant = It is a substance which is used to prevent any freezing damage to the cell. Interestingly, the Arctic or the Antarctic insects and the fish and the amphibians which stay in the Arctic areas. They naturally produce cryoprotectants to prevent freezing damage to their bodies post procedure.

Precautions After Egg Freezing Stages

As you have come from a little operation, you may feel a little bit pain in the abdomen or mild cramps. But Don’t worry about it, the pain will disappear after 02 to 03 days. Just take care of your health and follow the following precautions.

Take appropriate rest
Avoid unprotected sex
Report to the doctor immediately in case of:
- Excessive pain
- Excessive bleeding
- Fever
- Difficulty in passing urine
- Sudden Swelling
- Sudden Weight Gain

What are the risks of egg freezing?

There is some risk in all medical treatments and techniques, similarly there is some risk in expressing too. The risks of egg freezing might be the following.

Risks associated with the use of fertility drugs

There’s a condition called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, wherein ovaries have an exaggerated response to the use of fertility medicines. The ovaries become swollen, painful, the person may have nausea, vomiting, bloating, breathing difficulty, and in some cases the person might even require admission to the hospital.

Risks associated with egg retrieval

Complications associated with the retrieval of the eggs. So when a needle is put inside the body to retrieve the eggs, sometimes this needle could injure the vowel bladder or maybe a blood vessel.

Emotional Risk

There is a significant emotional danger linked with it. We must acknowledge that all reproductive techniques have difficulties with hope and almost certainly carry no assurance of success. So, make sure you have a strong support system around you.

Miscarriage Risk

The risk of miscarriage is associated with the bad quality of eggs. However, there are too few chances of this condition. Earlier egg freezing reduces the chance of miscarriage.

Conclusion

Egg freezing or oocyte cryopreservation takes family planning to the next level. So, as contentious as certain scientific breakthroughs may appear, they may be tremendously powerful, life-saving, and useful for many people. So make your own decision and check with your doctor about the many possibilities.

Some Additional Doubt

Question: How many eggs will I need to freeze?
Answer: It is completely based on your quality of egg that can be determined by a test of Ovarian reserve which means your AMH test & your anterior follicle count on the ultrasound and also your desire to have how many children you want in future. Your fertility doctor would be able to guide you as to how many cycles would be required to get that required number of eggs.

Question: Will my egg reserve deplete further after the egg freezing?
Answer: Not really, one or two cycles of ovarian stimulation & egg freezing will not deplete the overall ovarian reserve; it actually rescues the available eggs which might probably have been lost in a due course of time.

Question: What is the best age for egg freezing?
Answer: Earlier is better, so at earlier ages we are assured of the better egg count and the better egg quality. So in case you are suspecting that you might need egg freezing later on earlier, the better it is.

Question: Is there any risk of birth or chromosomal defects?
Answer: So the risks of birth or chromosomal defects using Cryo-preserved eggs is the same as that of natural conception, so no increased risk. Any time limit on the storage of the eggs so that eggs can be stored for as long as you want, provided the freezing conditions have been good and the quality of egg at the time of freezing was good. However, most of the centre’s recommend or advise the people to use their eggs within ten years of the storage.

Question: What is the cost of egg freezing in our country?
Answer: The cost of egg freezing could vary anything between 01 to 1.5 lakh rupees. The cost could vary according to the amount of the fertility drugs used for the stimulation.

Reference Links:-
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377314346_Social_Egg_Freezing-A_Trend_or_Modern_Reality
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4467930/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321638347_Egg_Freezing_for_Age-Related_Fertility_Decline
https://bcmj.org/sites/default/files/public/BCMJ_Vol58_No10_egg_freezing.pdf
https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68639/13/Jackson_The%20ambiguities%20of%20%E2%80%98social%E2%80%99%20egg%20freezing.pdf