Egg Freezing

A harsh reality of nature is that women’s fertility starts to decrease after the age of 30 years and

drops more dramatically after the age of 35 years. This is demonstrated by a reduction in natural

conception rates, lower success with IVF, and an increased rate of abnormal eggs and hence

embryos with a higher miscarriage if pregnancy does occur.

While it is always better to conceive naturally, if not in a position to conceive after the early 30’s

consideration should be given to preserving fertility by freezing eggs. Other clinical scenarios

where this should be considered is if there is a history of early menopause in the family, carriers of

fragile X pre-mutation, mosaic Turner’s syndrome, those with severe endometriosis or recurrent

ovarian cyst. Also fertility preservation should be considered prior to chemo or radiotherapy or

surgery that could affect fertility.

The process does require undergoing ovarian stimulation with daily FSH injections and monitoring

by transvaginal scanning for about 10-12 days, followed by a transvaginal egg retrieval done under

a light anaesthetic. With modern egg freezing techniques over 95% of the frozen eggs survive the

freeze thaw process and outcomes such as fertilisation, embryo creation and pregnancy rates are

similar to fresh eggs. Also adverse outcomes such as miscarriage and abnormality rates are the

same between the two groups. Fertilisation has to be done by ICSI [injecting a sperm into the egg]

due to the surround granulosa cells being removed to allow efficient freezing. Ideally, to have a

reasonable chance of a live baby upto 15 eggs should be stored which may take more than one

cycle.

Elective egg freezing [as opposed to medically indicated] is not covered by Medicare but Monash

has created a special rate of $5 000 to undergo a cycle. This does not cover the cost of the drugs

or hospital and anaesthetic costs of the egg pick up which can be about another $3 000. If

possible to do under local anaesthetic the cost of the hospital and anaesthetist is avoided. If

interested please make an appointment to discuss this with Dr Turner.