Embryo freezing: What you need to know

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• Mohak Infertility Center

Our Location
SAIMS Campus,Indore-Ujjain state highway, Near
MR-10 crossing,Indore (M.P.)-453111
Dr. Shilpa Bhandari
 Reproductive Medicine Specialist
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Embryo freezing What you need to know
Embryo freezing is a procedure that allows people
to store embryos for later use. A person can also
freeze eggs, which are not fertilized. An embryo
forms after fertilization and after the cells
start to divide.
The first successful pregnancy resulting from
freezing a healthy embryo took place in the
1980s. Since then, many people have frozen
embryos and used them later.
A person may decide to store an embryo if they
hope to become pregnant in the future, to donate
to others, for medical research, or for training
purposes.
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The process begins by using hormones and other
medications to stimulate the production of
potentially fertile eggs. A doctor then extracts
the eggs from the ovaries, either for fertilizing
in a lab or for freezing.
Successful fertilization may lead to at least one
healthy embryo. A doctor can then transfer the
embryo to the womb, or uterus. If the treatment
is successful, the embryo will develop.
Fertilization often results in more than one
embryo, and the doctor can freeze and preserve
the remaining embryos.
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What is an embryo, and how do people create one?
According to an published in the journal Human
Reproduction, the medical community uses
thearticle term embryo from the moment that
cells divide after fertilization until the eighth
week of pregnancy.
Before freezing can take place, people need to
create suitable embryos. To do so in the
laboratory, doctors must harvest and fertilize
some eggs.
First, the person will take hormones to make sure
that ovulation happens on schedule. They will
then take fertility medications to increase the
number of eggs that they produce.
In the hospital, a doctor will extract the eggs,
using an ultrasound machine to ensure accuracy.
A person may wish to freeze their eggs. Or, they
may wish to use them at once to become pregnant.
In this case, the doctor may recommend in vitro
fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm
injection (ICSI).
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During IVF, the doctor exposes the eggs to sperm
and leaves them in a laboratory for fertilization
to take place. After this, the correct term for a
fertilized egg is an embryo.
An embryologist will monitor the development of
the embryos over the next 6 days, after which
they may choose a suitable embryo for
implantation.
During ICSI, the doctor extracts the eggs and
injects a single sperm directly into an egg.
They may do this if there is a problem with the
sperm or if past attempts at IVF have not
resulted in fertilization. The doctor may use one
embryo and freeze the others.
How do people freeze embryos?
The main aim of freezing embryos is to preserve
them for later use.
The biggest challenge is the water within the
cells. When this water freezes, crystals can form
and burst the cell.
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Cryopreservation
To prevent this from happening, the doctor uses a
process called cryopreservation. It involves
replacing the water in the cell with a substance
called a cryoprotectant.
The doctor then leaves the embryos to incubate in
increasing levels of cryoprotectant before
freezing them.
After removing most of the water, the doctor
cools the embryo to its preservation state. They
then use one of two freezing methods
Slow freezing This involves placing the embryos
in sealed tubes, then slowly lowering their
temperature. It prevents the embryos cells from
aging and reduces the risk of damage. However,
slow freezing is time-consuming, and it requires
expensive machinery.
Vitrification In this process, the doctor
freezes the cryoprotected embryos so quickly that
the water molecules do not have time to form ice
crystals. This helps protect the embryos and
increases their rate of survival during thawing.
After the process of freezing is complete, the
doctor stores the embryos in liquid nitrogen.
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Success rates of thawing frozen embryos
The process of thawing an embryo after
cryopreservation has a relatively high success
rate, and research suggests that women who use
thawed embryos have good chances of delivering
healthy babies.
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According to a comparative study and review
published in 2016, babies born after
cryopreservation showed no increase in
developmental abnormalities. However, the medical
community still requires more long-term follow-up
studies.
Some research indicates that, compared with slow
freezing, vitrification increases an embryos
chance of survival, both at the freezing stage
and during thawing.
Mohak Infertility Center is the Best centre for
IVF in Indore. We provide IVF, IUI, infertility,
test tube baby, Sperm Freezing, Egg freezing and
ICSI treatment in Indore at affordable price.
Book an appointment today call now us 78980-
47572 / 80852-77666 for more information.
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Contact Details
Mohak Infertility Centre Email-
help_at_Mohakivf.com Phone -78980-47572 /
80852-77666 / 97550-44424 / 0731-4231756 Address
- SAIMS Campus,Indore-Ujjain state highway,Near
MR-10 crossing,Indore (M.P.) Visit our
website- https//www.mohakivf.com for more
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