Advanced Reproductive Care: Let’s Get Real About Egg Freezing

Popular Fertility Procedure Not A Guarantee For Pregnancy

Saratoga, CA – Egg Freezing is becoming an increasingly popular way for women to try to delay childbearing, but Advanced Reproductive Care Inc. (ARC) [www.arcfertility.com], the largest network of fertility specialists in the United States, is advising women to look at all of the medical evidence and implications before embarking on this procedure, which has a lower success rate than is being promoted by some egg-freezing advocates and cannot guarantee a baby in the future.

“Egg freezing was originally developed as a way to help women who were about to undergo cancer treatments to become pregnant after chemotherapy and radiation, both of which can affect fertility, but today it’s being marketed to healthy women in their 20s, 30s and even 40s as a way to have children at a later age,” says Dr. David Adamson, a Stanford-trained fertility specialist and founder of ARC. “Unfortunately, it’s not a guarantee, and there are no long term studies that confirm its overall cost-effectiveness. It’s definitely an option for women who are experiencing certain medical conditions – or are expecting to encounter situations such as early menopause – but in many cases women have unrealistically high expectations for future pregnancy.” And it may also be appropriate for selected younger women who want to preserve their fertility for the future.

In the procedure, following ovarian stimulation with hormones, eggs are retrieved and then frozen without being fertilized by sperm. Eggs can be kept frozen for many years so that when the woman wants to use the eggs they can be thawed, fertilized with sperm, and the resulting embryo(s) transferred into the uterus soon after fertilization.

Egg freezing has come to prominence in recent months thanks to several companies, including Facebook and Apple, including it in their employee healthcare packages, but Adamson says that there is a danger of inappropriate use of the technology. “It’s wonderful that egg freezing is available as an option for women who need it, and the technology has improved significantly in recent years. But it costs about twenty thousand dollars and requires women to undergo complex treatment to get the eggs. It’s not something that people should do lightly, and they need to be aware of all the pros and cons of the procedure, and that it’s far from a guarantee.” So women considering use of this technology to preserve their fertility should carefully consider all aspects of the medical, financial and social implications before deciding to go ahead.

About Advanced Reproductive Care, Inc. (ARC)

With more than 17 years of experience, Advanced Reproductive Care, Inc. (ARC) provides affordable, evidence-based fertility treatment packages and financing options to people living with infertility. Founded by world-renowned, Stanford trained, board certified reproductive endocrinologist Dr. David Adamson, ARC offers the largest network of board-certified fertility specialists in the United States. To check out our exciting new and improved website, please visit www.arcfertility.com.