Egg banking, also known as oocyte cryopreservation, is a moderately new strategy for fertility protection where a developed, unfertilized egg is retrieved from a female, frozen and stored for later use.
Egg banking includes a female deciding to have eggs retrieved from her ovaries, frozen to preserve their viability and put away until she is ready to utilize them in a future in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment to achieve pregnancy.
Egg freezing and egg banking can be utilized to preserve fertility in patients having aggressive medical treatments, for example, chemotherapy, or in patients who wish to protect their fertility presently to begin a family later.
Egg freezing process in conjunction with IVF
Egg freezing is achieved through a new IVF cycle, avoiding egg treatment in vitro.
- Stimulation of a woman’s ovaries utilizing fertility medications to produce a few egg follicles during one new IVF cycle
- Harvesting eggs from the woman’s ovaries through surgical retrieval
- Preparing and freezing of the eggs for preservation through a cycle known as vitrification
- The fast-freezing technique of vitrification makes it possible to freeze eggs rapidly so that ice crystals don’t form between cells
Egg banking in cancer treatment
Egg banking increases opportunities for women going through cancer treatment who preserve their fertility. In the event that they have a partner, they could go through a stimulation and retrieval cycle, developing embryos, and freeze them for some time in the future. They could do likewise without an available partner, in the event that they willing to utilize donor sperm to develop embryos. This would ensure them hereditary offspring, yet with a missing sperm donor father. In the event that they come up short on a partner and ability to utilize a sperm donor, egg freezing would empower as it both secures their fertility and gives them a decision over the genetic father of their post-treatment children. A comparable need may emerge with women with hereditary illnesses or different conditions, for example, premature ovarian failure, who had not yet found a spouse yet needed to ensure they have healthy eggs at a later point in their life for reproduction.
Advantages of egg banking
- Egg banking permits patients to extend their fertility. Thawed eggs hold their capacity to get fertilized from the time of freezing, giving the patient peace of mind by knowing pregnancy might be conceivable later on.
- For women who need to through fertility damaging treatments, for example, chemotherapy, egg freezing may permit them to preserve their fertility and start a family after treatment.
- Egg freezing can likewise assist women with premature fertility loss, for example, reduced ovarian reserve, by banking healthy eggs at an early age when they are likely to be viable for sometime in the future. In these cases, the woman’s doctor will suggest egg freezing and banking.
- A few women decide to freeze and bank their eggs for social reasons, for example, waiting for the right partner or not wanting to take a leave from work. The frozen eggs can be thawed, fertilized and embedded for pregnancy sometime in the not too distant future.
Risks of egg banking
Egg freezing carries several risks to the woman or couple, including:
- Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).
- Surgical complications.
- Emotional effects.
In today’s world, many women are choosing to focus on their careers, education, or personal goals before starting a family. Social Egg Freezing allows you to “pause” your biological clock by preserving your younger, healthier eggs for use in the future.
Understanding the Biological Realities
A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have. The decline in both quantity and quality is a natural process:
- At Birth: Approx. 1 million eggs.
- At Puberty: Approx. 200,000 eggs remaining.
- Every Cycle: One egg matures, while hundreds of others degenerate.
By freezing your eggs in your prime reproductive years (20s to early 30s), you secure a much higher chance of a successful pregnancy later in life.
The Science: How Eggs are Frozen
The human egg is the largest cell in the body and contains significant water. To prevent ice crystals from damaging the cell during freezing, we use a process called Vitrification. This involves dehydrating the egg and replacing the water with cryoprotectants, then cooling it instantly to -196°C.
The 2-Week Process:
- Stimulation: 10-15 days of hormone injections to encourage multiple eggs to mature.
- Monitoring: Regular ultrasounds to check follicle growth (18-20mm is ideal).
- Retrieval: A quick, painless procedure under IV sedation using ultrasound guidance.
- Banking: The eggs are frozen and can be stored indefinitely without losing quality.
Success Rates & Planning
Success depends largely on the age at which the eggs were frozen, not the age at which they are thawed. Key considerations include:
- Quantity: We recommend storing at least 10 eggs per pregnancy attempt.
- Implantation: Younger eggs have a much higher chance of successful implantation and live birth (estimated 15-30% per cycle).
- Safety: Over 5,000 babies have been born globally from frozen eggs with no increase in birth defects compared to natural conception.
Financial Considerations
In India, a typical egg freezing cycle costs approximately 1.8 Lakh INR. This includes testing, medications, monitoring, and the retrieval procedure. Annual storage fees usually apply after the first year.
Your Future, Your Timeline
Dr. Pankaj Talwar provides personalized, state-of-the-art fertility preservation services. Let’s discuss if egg freezing is right for you.
📍 3118, 3rd Floor, Sector 46, Near Ambedkar Chowk, Gurugram, Haryana
