We understand you would like to start thinking about creating a future family unit and feel that now would be a good time to preserve your reproductive health. Freezing healthy eggs at an early age may optimize chances for future opportunity.
There are many reasons women delay motherhood, and sometimes the delay is not one of their choosing. Reasons that may prompt women to freeze their eggs may include, but are not limited to:
Whichever the reason may be, we recognize that preserving your fertility is an important choice to make and our patient care team will help you determine if fertility preservation is right for you.
Though the journey may look different for some, we share the same goal.. building a family. IVF Canada is here to assist you and will customize the treatment to your situation and needs.
Advances in technology have made egg freezing a successful procedure. The ideal time to freeze eggs is in the mid to late 20’s or early to mid 30’s.
The egg freezing process is similar to an IVF treatment cycle – a woman goes through hormone stimulation and egg collection prior to her eggs being cryopreserved. Frozen eggs may be stored in liquid nitrogen for years to come without significant deterioration.
Egg freezing can be used for fertility preservation or infertility treatment backup. Examples include women who would like to start a family later in life, female-to-male transgender patients who would like to preserve their fertility, women preparing for chemotherapy or pelvic radiotherapy, etc.
Egg freezing success rates depend heavily on the woman's age at the time of freezing, with the most successful outcomes occurring for women under 35 who freeze a larger number of eggs.
Generally, the younger the woman, the higher the chance of a live birth from frozen eggs, with studies showing a cumulative live birth rate of around 70% for women under 38 who thaw at least 20 eggs; however, it's important to note that egg freezing does not guarantee a pregnancy and success rates can vary significantly depending on individual factors.
The number of eggs needed depends on age, but generally, a higher number is recommended for better chances of pregnancy, especially for women over 35.
Coverage can vary depending on your insurance provider and employer benefits. Some insurance plans may cover egg freezing partially or fully in the following situations:
Before freezing your eggs, discuss key factors with your fertility specialist, including your medical history, age, and ovarian reserve testing (AMH, FSH, and AFC ultrasound) to assess how many eggs you may be able to freeze.
Your doctor can help determine the best timing based on your reproductive goals, as egg quality declines with age. They will help you understand the entire process and recovery time. Lastly, discuss costs, insurance coverage, and financing options to ensure egg freezing aligns with your personal and financial plans.
Sperm freezing or cryopreservation is a procedure which preserves the sperm cells.
Firstly, the semen sample is collected, diluted with cryoprotectant media, and then aliquoted into small vials. The vials are frozen in liquid nitrogen for later use and the frozen sperm samples can then be successfully preserved for years. The cryoprotectant medium is used to prevent damage to the sperm caused by the freezing and thawing processes.
Men may choose to preserve their fertility for various reasons. Examples include, but are not limited to: Low sperm count, poor motility, and undergoing health-related treatments and/or surgical procedures.
With IVF or ICSI treatment, patients often have multiple quality embryos created from one treatment cycle. The good quality embryos which cannot be used in that cycle may be frozen and stored for future use.
Today, in most clinics, embryo freezing is one of the very routine services offered as part of fertility treatment. Frozen embryo transfers have allowed many patients to achieve more than one pregnancy from a single treatment cycle and have also prevented multiple pregnancies.
Embryos tolerate the freezing and thawing process well, with a survival rate greater than 90%. The pregnancy rates with frozen/thawed embryos have been proven as good as fresh embryos. Embryos can be frozen at any stage of development during treatment; however, our clinic most commonly freezes embryos on Day 5 or Day 6 of development.
Receiving sperm, eggs, and embryos from clinics across Canada and the USA can be easily done at our fertility centre. It is the patient’s responsibility to contact the clinic that will be releasing their samples and to hire a courier to ship the samples to us. Please give us notice 24 hours in advance so we can be ready to receive your samples when they arrive. If your samples are from other countries, please check to see if you can ship samples to our location.
