Pause Your Biological Clock With Egg Freezing

Have you decided to delay childbearing due to personal, professional, financial or biological reasons? And are also interested in fertility preservation because you worry that the health of your eggs will decline as you age? If yes, then you are at the right place. This blog intends to provide you information about egg freezing and why it’s an imperative tool for women who are looking for ways to preserve their fertility .¹

Let’s get started.

The right time for egg freezing with a higher success rate is before the age of 35 years as after  this age the quality and quantity of eggs start declining.² Therefore, the sooner you start preserving your eggs, the fewer cycles it takes to obtain sufficient numbers of good quality eggs.²

Read on to learn more about the underlying reasons as to why egg freezing is the right way to pause your fertility.

Ovarian Reserve And Egg Freezing

The term ovarian reserve refers to a woman’s potential to become a mother, without any reproductive tract (vagina, fallopian tubes and uterus) issues. It primarily depends on the quantity, and quality of immature eggs in the ovaries. Additionally, an important factor in determining the ovarian reserve is how the ovarian follicles react to the hormonal signals the brain sends out.³

A woman is born with over one million healthy eggs in the ovaries.⁴ But, ovaries undergo faster and serious after-effects of aging than any other organ in the body.⁵ Therefore, as the woman ages, the number of healthy eggs declines which can, in turn, impact  the chances of getting pregnant.⁶ That is, if you conceive between the age of 35-40 years, there are greater chances of pregnancy termination (loss of an embryo or spontaneous abortion).⁷

And there are two major theories contributing to the origin of ovarian ageing. First one says that with increasing age of the ovary, the level of FSH (Follicle stimulating hormone) increases and this may, in turn, cause a decrease in egg follicles or immature eggs. The second theory says that the decrease in immature eggs is caused by an increase in FSH level, which is contributed by improper production of Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH) by hypothalamus.⁶

With increasing age, women are also at higher risk of developing many severe medical conditions (such as endometriosis⁸ and uterine fibroids⁹) that affect fertility. Therefore, all these reasons are explanatory enough to say, ‘most fertile years for a female lie between late teens and 30s’.¹⁰

So, what comes to the rescue for women who wish to have a baby in their late 30s or 40s? Yes, it is Egg Freezing. But how? Let’s Explore!

By now, we’ve got a slight idea about the importance of ovarian reserve. Let’s now find how it is associated with egg freezing. 

Diminished ovarian reserve, affected by age, genetics or environmental factors, lowers the capability of the ovary to respond to Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) like In-vitro fertilization (IVF) and thus reducing the pregnancy rates.¹¹

Egg freezing followed by IVF provides a solution for women who anticipate becoming pregnant late in their lives. It provides the possibility to become parents using frozen-thawed eggs and reducing the risk of having babies with chromosomal abnormalities.² Let’s understand in detail.

Egg Freezing

Egg freezing, also called Oocyte Cryopreservation, is an excellent alternative for women's fertility preservation.⁶ As the name suggests, it involves freezing one or more unfertilized eggs for later use in assisted conception methods. 

Egg Freezing includes multitudinous steps such as stimulation of ovaries, removal of eggs from ovaries and storage of eggs in a frozen condition in a specialized storage facility.

Process Of Egg Freezing

Once you have decided to start the journey of egg cryopreservation, you have to undergo the following steps for an egg freezing cycle. These include:

1. Scans And Hormone Test

Prior to proceeding with egg freezing, it is always advisable to check all the fertility parameters and get insights on your reproductive health and the ovarian reserve using Lifecell’s OvaScore kit. It tests the nine essential fertility hormones (Anti-Mullerian Hormone, Estradiol, Follicle Stimulating Hormone, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, Luteinizing Hormone, Free Thyroxine, Prolactin, Total Testosterone and 17-Hydroxyprogesterone). 

Ovarian reserve testing is a preparatory step for egg freezing where you’ll undergo several blood tests and scans to check your ovarian reserve and provide insights into expected eggs yield per stimulated cycle.^12,13 Thus, it helps you understand the level of stimulation required by your ovaries to collect the eggs before the treatment cycle. Smart algorithms like Brigham Calculator and Nomogram¹⁴ help in predicting the number of eggs or oocytes that can be retrieved in controlled ovulation stimulation. It can predict the number of retrievable eggs by detecting Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) levels in your body. Higher AMH levels indicate higher ovarian reserve and thus, higher chances of getting pregnant.¹⁵ Additionally, a blood panel test for viral infections like Hepatitis B, HIV and Hepatitis C may also be advised. 

Viral infections are also checked in females to reduce the risk of any potential viral transmission in future children.¹³ Moreover, your fertility specialist will also have a pelvic ultrasound scan that can help assess your anatomical structures and get a clear insight about your ovarian reserve.

2. Consultation

Once you get your OvaScore and other medical scan reports, a 1:1 consultation is scheduled with Lifecell’s expert/doctor to address all your queries related to the procedure. Post consultation, you’ll have to visit your nearest fertility clinic partnered with Lifecell with an in-clinic stimulation facility.

3. Stimulation Of Ovaries

Ovaries’ stimulation starts with synthetic gonadotropin hormones (FSH and LH) that help in multiple egg production. Ovaries are stimulated upto two hours¹⁶ to increase the estrogen levels and lower progesterone levels.¹⁷ You may also have to take vaginal ultrasound during follow-up visits to monitor the growth of follicles (a small and fluid-filled sac containing immature eggs).¹⁷

4. Retrieving Eggs

It is a quick procedure to collect fully mature eggs. A fertility specialist shall provide Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) dose and insert a needle into the follicles to suck out fluid containing the mature eggs from your ovaries after at least 34-36 hours.¹⁷

5. Freezing Eggs

After the egg retrieval, it’s time to preserve them at sub-zero temperatures. Vitrification (rapid cooling process) is commonly used for freezing eggs with cryoprotectants (to help prevent ice crystals).²  The complete process takes approximately 2-3 weeks but the duration may vary from person to person. After egg freezing, women must contact a healthcare provider if they face any difficulty such as:

• High fever
• Abdominal pain
• Sudden weight gain
• Heavy vaginal bleeding 
• Difficulty during urination

If everything goes well, you can celebrate the success of the initial step towards future pregnancy planning. Contact the respective doctor whenever you decide to use your frozen eggs. They will help thaw and fertilise it with sperm in a laboratory so it can be implanted in your uterus.

Summing Up!

Ovarian reserve is one of the critical factors to understand  a woman's reproductive health status. Studies reveal an accelerated decline in the egg pool beyond 37 years of women’s age.¹⁵ Therefore, you can preserve your fertility by opting for egg freezing, preferably before the age of 30 years to have children later in life.  

Before taking up egg freezing, it is advisable for women to test the essential fertility hormones including AMH using OvaScore. Hormones such as AMH are directly linked to  ovarian reserve (egg pool). ¹⁵ OvaVault aims at giving women reproductive freedom by assisting them in preserving their egg/s at the peak of their fertility. Moreover, It is a step towards preserving women's fertility potential to help them in embracing motherhood whenever they're ready for it. So, plan your egg preservation, order OvaVault, make timely and informed decisions and cherish your parenthood journey wherever you are up for it.