Now women around the world can hopefully stop their biological clock for a decade or more by putting their eggs on ice. Recent advances in freezing techniques (cryo-preservation) suggest that egg survival and fertilisation success rates for once-frozen eggs may be as good as for fresh ones. Egg-freezing is still a comparatively untested technology, but now it is possible that women can 'bank' their healthy eggs for a while - till they feel its time - can have her eggs thawed and use routine IVF procedures to get pregnant.
"A woman is more likely to get pregnant at 40 with one of her eggs frozen in her early 30s than with her 40-year-old eggs" says Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services in Aldridge, West Midlands, in the UK.
Egg freezing: A reproductive revolution
By: Rachel Nowak
(21 March 2007, NewScientist.com news service)
No comments:
Post a Comment