Eggs lose quality as the years go by, which is why many women decide to vitrify them to preserve their fertility. A study by the Eugin Clinic (Barcelona) has shown that the ovules that go through this freezing process maintain their properties and survival intact, even if they are stored for long periods of time.
The research has been presented at the 38th Annual Congress of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), which is being held this year in Milan (Italy). In the work, more than 5,000 in vitro fertilization cycles were analyzed in people who used donor eggs that had been previously vitrified.
The results showed that no differences were found between the survival or fertilization rates of vitrified oocytes that were stored between 4 and 8 years, compared to those that were less than that time. Therefore, according to the researchers, the rates of pregnancy and successfully delivered babies remained high.
Egg cryopreservation is a good option to postpone motherhood
“Currently, vitrification is the most effective method for freezing oocytes and preserving fertility, but, as it is a relatively recent technique, which began to be used about 10 years ago, the effect of storing oocytes in blood banks was not known. long-term nitrogen”, explained Marc Torra-Massana, one of the researchers.
No difference was found in survival and fertilization in vitrified oocytes stored between 4 and 8 years, compared to those that were stored for less time
This procedure consists of extracting a number of eggs from women to freeze them ultrafast with liquid nitrogen at -196ºC. In this way the cells remain intact until they are thawed. This option is used in patients undergoing treatments that may be aggressive to their fertility, such as cancer or gynecological surgeries.
However, you can also resort to them if you think that now is not the time to get pregnant, but you want to maintain the good condition of the current ovules. The procedure is usually done to people under 40 years of age, although doctors recommend that it be done before the age of 35, since that is when the success rate of the vitrification treatment is highest.
With the findings of this research, it is confirmed that oocyte cryopreservation is a good alternative for young women who want to preserve their eggs long-term, since they maintain their quality even many years later.
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