Who Can Be Helped By Embryo Freezing?

IVF is much more successful if the ovaries are stimulated with drugs. These drugs enable the growth of multiple follicles within the ovaries resulting in the production of many oocytes (eggs) and usually many embryos. We transfer two to three embryos in the womb from two to three days following your egg collection and any good quality surplus embryos can be frozen and stored for the future.Occasionally it is advised to abandon the embryo transfer and to freeze the embryos for use in treatment at a later date. We suggest this if the drugs that we use to stimulate the ovaries have worked too well. If large number of follicles are seen on ultrasound scan this also means there is a risk that hormone levels circulating in the blood are too high. This can lead to Ovarian Hyper stimulation Syndrome, a condition dangerous to both mother and baby. Pregnancy worsens this condition and so it is better to postpone a fresh embryo transfer until the hormone levels subside. We may also advise embryo freezing if there is evidence of an endometrial abnormality, such as polyp. All of your embryos will be stored until it is safe to proceed with pregnancy.If you are about to undergo medical treatment that may render you infertile in the future, it is possible to freeze embryos before this treatment. This gives you chance of having children at later date.