Written by Steve Masler, CEO of Fertility SOURCE Companies
ASRM 2008 in San Francisco was like a coming out party for oocyte cryopreservation (egg freezing). It seems that many have become convinced via studies that egg freezing for various applications is now viable and that it not only is a more efficient method for egg donation (than fresh egg donation) but also a less costly one to the patient. Numerous scientific presentations and posters dealt with comparisons of vitrification and slow freezing as well as the application of egg freezing in general.
One poster was regarding a frozen egg bank of 61 donors that had been established by a single fertility practice. The same group will be publishing an article in Fertility & Sterility that will the results of a study comparing the use of frozen eggs from donors who had previously donated fresh eggs. The conclusion presented is "The present study demonstrates that oocyte cryopreservation can be considered as a tool to provide highly successful outcomes in an egg donor program. Our results validate the use of oocyte cryo-banking for egg donation purposes. In addition to the high success rates, oocyte cryo-banking can help to eliminate some of the obstacles associated with the current "fresh embryo" transfer policy. Oocyte cryo-banking will also dramatically reduce frozen embryo storage and mitigate related moral/ethical concerns, and may help with donor-recipient synchronization and possibly reduce cost."
Anecdotally, many fertility practitioners returned from ASRM believing that the time for large scale movement toward egg freezing for donor situations as well as for other applications has arrived.
Click on the link below to access the abstract for Fertility & Sterility article mentioned above:
Clinical evaluation of the efficiency of an oocyte donation program using egg cryo-banking
Posts
8 comments:
Does anyone know anything about manufactured eggs in the US or elsewhere? I read an article and this seems like a wonderful option for some.
Infertility Answers at 4:53pm February 13
By using the word "manufactured" do you mean that donors have their eggs frozen and stored without having intended parents who are waiting for them yet? I have heard that egg donation maybe going the way of sperm donation but I have not heard of any place actually doing this to date. I don't think that egg freezing has been perfected to the point where any one (professional) would invest in the donor fees, medication, egg retrievals and indefinitely freezing those eggs for potential future intended parents.
Sharon LaMothe
at 6:54pm February 13
I think there is too little context for what is meant by "manufactured eggs" to truly comment.
If it refers to frozen donor eggs as Sharon has mentioned I don't see a big market at this time. There are already a number of "egg banks" of frozen donor eggs. I know the doctors who have set up these programs are excited and feel they are pioneers and this is a step forward. However, intended parents are more interested in tried and true not breaking new ground. So far the success rate, cost and number of embryos with a fresh cycle is far more appealing to intended parents.
Gail Sexton-Anderson
Donor Concierge
Mark Perloe at 5:22am February 14
Hopefully in ten years, we may be able to create stem cells that will allow to recreate eggs. Not sure this is possible. This will be easier with an embryonic stem cell, but that won't be your own genome. Working back from a somatic cell to create the stem cells to be injected into an emptied egg, is not likely to work any time soon. And, if you already have the embryo, you would not need to go back and create the egg. So, I'm not sure we will be able to regenerate eggs from other somatic cells anytime soon.
Mark Perloe, MD
Reproductive Endocrinologist
Georgia Reproductive Specialists
Tracy Morris at 8:12am February 14
I wonder if the query is referring to mitochondrial transplant? Highly experimental... was in the news last year a bit.
Tracy Morris
Infertility Writer, Author
at 12:24pm February 14
It's frozen donor eggs.
Marna Gatlin
at 4:34am February 15
My understanding is that those "egg banks" will launch donor programs once the thaw process of oocytes is perfected; literally "banking eggs" until the technology is reliable. I met with a woman recently who did freeze her eggs through a prominent Boston based service (not a clinic, btw), they offered a "donor option" to offset the costs of freezing for fertility preservation. This woman did opt to participate in the firm's donor program while reserving 1/2 of the eggs retrieved for her own family builidng. Clearly, there are both legal and ethical considerations to be explored
At recent educational events focused on "cryo-oocytes", the prediction is that we are approx 10 years away from getting the technology where we need it to be for this practice to be incorporated into standard clinical practice.
At the upcoming 11th (?) Annual Oocyte Donation Conference in Charleston, the entire Saturday morning program is dedicated to oocyte cryopreservation....looking forward.
Amy Demma, Attorney
Reproductive Law
Infertility Answers at 2:24pm February 15
Thanks Amy! I have heard of the 10 year time frame too....
Enjoy the conference!
Sharon
Post a Comment