Egg freezing is a relatively new tool in the ART procedures.
Multiple eggs retrieved at IVF egg pick up can be frozen & fertilized at a later date. The delay in embryo transfer is helpful in avoiding the development of sever ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in high risk cases.
Egg freezing can also be used as a “rescue” method to store eggs during a cycle in cases of failure to produce or retrieve semen.
The largest beneficiaries of egg freezing would be young women with cancer (particularly if the women has no male partner) who need to undergo ablative surgeries & damaging chemo & radio – therapies. These women can later use these frozen oocytes to achieve a pregnancy.
As egg freezing is a relatively new procedure, it is necessary to monitor closely the children born from this procedure. It is important to ascertain the proper growth & development of these children and also to exclude possible genetic anomalies and malformations.