Egg freezing offers new options for fertility preservation

Pointing out that egg freezing can be done in two different situations in women, Assoc. Erhan Şimşek: “The first of these is to prevent the loss of egg reserve after cancer treatment in oncology patients. In the second group, there are healthy women with decreased ovarian reserve as a result of age-related or genetic inheritance from the family. However, this age is not the same for every woman. The fertility rate, which is expected to decrease at normal rates between the ages of 30-35 and accelerates every year between the ages of 35 and 45, decreases at a much earlier age for some women. “Less than 50 can give birth without an assisted reproductive technique by their own efforts. Recently, the maternity period, which has been postponed until after the age of 35, together with the university, graduate, doctoral, career and business planning processes adversely affects the rate of getting pregnant,” she said.

“The chance of pregnancy can continue with egg freezing”

Assoc. Dr. Şimşek said, “Especially today’s modern living conditions, conditions such as education and working life cause the age of conception to be postponed to older ages. Since the decrease in fertility is inevitable starting from the mid-30s, the need for fertility preservation methods such as egg freezing in a group of patients is increasing day by day. Today, there are extremely good options for obtaining and storing eggs in order to preserve fertility in the future. In the last 10 years, our Ministry of Health gives women who want to become mothers the chance to maintain their fertility when they reach advanced ages and when their eggs decrease. In these patients, the chance of conceiving continues by using the eggs they have frozen before marriage, after marriage,” he said.

“Egg freezing can also be applied to oncology patients”

Emphasizing that freezing can be applied to patients with reduced egg reserve, who are considering pregnancy at an advanced age, who have oncological problems, who will undergo chemotherapy or who will undergo bone marrow transplantation, Şimşek said, “Eggs can be collected in the most efficient way until the age of 38-40 at the latest. We recommend our patients who are considering this procedure to be examined by a doctor who deals with IVF or reproductive health between the ages of 30-37 and evaluate their ovarian reserves. The fact that the number of eggs in some of the 35-year-old patients is less than expected indicates that there is not much time left for egg freezing. Even if more eggs can be collected at an advanced age, the chance of pregnancy may not be high. Therefore, age is an important factor. For women who are not yet married, egg freezing can be made with the examination and guidance of a specialist doctor. Egg reserves can also be evaluated by ultrasonography and the antimullerian hormone test, which allows the evaluation of egg reserve from blood sample in determining the egg reserve. Oncology patients who have a sufficient number of eggs may face the risk of losing their healthy eggs after chemotherapy treatment or bone marrow transplantation. In our oncology patients who meet the appropriate conditions, pre-treatment egg freezing is an important option in which they can preserve their fertility in their future lives. The permanent decrease in fertility that occurs with treatments that damage the ovary and carry the risk of menopause, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, can be largely prevented by the use of these methods.

“Maturated eggs can be collected in a 10-15 minute process”

Noting that the egg freezing process is similar to in vitro fertilization, Şimşek said, “The eggs, which take about 10-15 days and mature by the patient’s own daily injections from the abdomen, can be collected painlessly in a short procedure of 10-15 minutes. After the eggs are collected, DNA identification is made and frozen in liquid nitrogen tanks at -250 degrees. The thawing process and fertilization of the eggs can be done quickly after 10-15 days of treatment. The storage period of frozen eggs, which is determined as 5 years on average, can be extended with an application made to the Health Directorate every year.

“It is important to do it in equipped centers”

Mentioning that egg freezing is performed similarly to in vitro fertilization procedures, Şimşek said, “With the consultancy services and appropriate treatments to be received in equipped centers, these procedures can be performed. The number of frozen eggs is an important determinant in our patients who want to become pregnant after egg freezing. For this reason, it would be an appropriate approach to complete the procedures before it is late and the egg reserves are depleted in women in the risk group. Although the age of the woman at the time of egg freezing is quite decisive, it is aimed to freeze enough eggs so that the pregnancy rates of the patients can be high when they get married. Ideally, collecting roughly 10 eggs for a significant chance of pregnancy will provide a substantial pregnancy rate. It is aimed to have a high pregnancy success by collecting eggs several times in succession in patients with a lower number of eggs.