Center for Women’s Medicine, Egg
Cryopreservation (Freezing) Program

The egg freezing program at Center for Women’s Medicine is under the direction of Dr. Dmitri Dozortsev and co-directed by Dr. Jeff Boldt, who is a pioneer in egg cryopreservation and one of the most sought after cryopreservation experts in the United States. Dr. Jeff Boldt has had extensive success using a new cryopreservation technique called vitrification, which takes advantage of ultra-rapid cooling. This cooling is so fast that ice crystals do not have time to form when water goes inside the egg. The formation of ice crystals will induce damage to the chromosomal plate during the slow cooling stage. This technique has allowed us to improve the frozen egg pregnancy rates without inducing irreversible damage to oocytes (eggs).

Egg freezing can be beneficial when:

--Women undergoing certain types of reproductive surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy for cancer treatment

Many types of chemotherapy, as well as radiation therapy, targeting or affecting the ovaries, may result in irreversible damage to the eggs (oocytes) contained within the ovarian follicles.  Even if those eggs do not die, their genetic material may be damaged beyond repair.

--Women who have ethical concerns about producing extra embryos that may end up being discarded  

The most important independent variable predictive of pregnancy during an in vitro fertilization cycle (IVF) is the number of oocytes harvested from the woman following ovarian stimulation with reproductive hormones. Therefore, in most cases multiple embryos will be created in vitro, while only 2 or 3 of the best embryos will usually be transferred into the womb. The remaining embryos will either be cryopreserved or, if an embryo is of inferior quality, judged as non-viable, it will be discarded.

Some patients do not want to create any “extra” embryos that may be potentially discarded and desire that every embryo be transferred. In such cases, only 2 or 3 eggs will be fertilized, while the remaining eggs could be frozen.

-- Creating a bank of frozen eggs for donation (much the same way that sperm bank)

There are more potential egg-recipients than egg-donors. Also, a desirable egg donor may not be in the same geographical area. In such cases, being able to draw from an egg bank is a convenient option.

--Women who postpone their pregnancy but desire to retain their full reproductive potential

There are many women today who need to postpone having children for a variety of reasons. Yet, after the age of 35, women’s fertility begins to decline and after the age of 40 pregnancy rates are very low. 

Furthermore, the chance of having a chromosomally affected child increases exponentially between the age of 40 and 45.  This is due to the decline in the egg quality yet a women’s ability to carry the pregnancy to term is retained well past age 50.  Furthermore when eggs are frozen at age 30 and transferred at age 50, the pregnancy rates will be that of age 30.