Fertility preservation refers to the process of freezing a woman's eggs, her embryos, or her ovarian tissue. This may give her the potential to conceive in the future should she be unable to become pregnant naturally. Fertility preservation can become an option to consider if you think you have trouble conceiving in the future. Learn more about your options for female fertility preservation and IVF in Davao below.
The Factors that Limit Fertility in Women
Many factors can limit a woman's ability to conceive, including:
• Planned surgery to remove the ovaries
• Chemotherapy that can damage eggs
• Radiation therapy to the pelvis
• Medications that can damage eggs
• Genetic causes of rapidly decreasing egg numbers
• Advancing age
Cancer treatments like chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery can speed up the natural decline in available eggs, thereby reducing or destroying the egg reserve. The risk of being infertile after cancer treatment depends upon the type of treatment, the woman's fertility before treatment, and her age. A cancer specialist can provide an estimate of the likelihood that chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy will decrease fertility.
There are three options that may be available for female fertility preservation. These are embryo freezing, egg freezing, and ovarian tissue freezing, but Cryopreservation or embryo freezing is a unique option.
How Does Cryopreservation or Embryo Freezing Work?
Embryo freezing involves a procedure called in-vitro fertilization (IVF) where eggs are fertilized with sperm in a laboratory, and then the resulting embryos are frozen (cryopreserved). IVF can be performed using either a male partner or a donor's sperm.
The ovaries would be stimulated to produce more eggs than usual using medication. The medication would be taken daily for about 12 days. Blood tests and ultrasound examinations would be used to monitor the growth of the follicles (the fluid-filled sacs in the ovaries that contain maturing eggs). Once these follicles are mature, they would be drained through the top of the vagina using a needle guided by ultrasound.
How Long Does Cryopreservation Take?
This procedure takes approximately 20 minutes and is usually done under anesthetic (although conscious sedation is an option). A microscope is used to search the fluid for the eggs, and then these eggs are fertilized in the laboratory with sperm from a partner or a donor. Embryos that develop successfully are then frozen for future use, and often a number of embryos are obtained and frozen from an IVF cycle.
When the woman is ready to use her frozen embryos, she may have to take medication to help develop the lining of her uterus in preparation for embryo implantation (particularly if she is menopausal), or it may be possible to do a transfer in a natural menstrual cycle.
If you live in Davao and you want to know more about the IVF cost in Davao, check their website now at www.ivfdavao.com.
