What is IVF with vitrified eggs and what are the results like?

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most widely used assisted reproductive technique today in the face of sterility. The success of this fertility treatment will depend mainly on the origin of the eggs and the age of the woman, although there are also other prognostic factors.

In any case, there are many patients who think that IVF with frozen eggs has lower success rates than IVF with fresh eggs. This is not entirely true, as the egg freezing technique is optimized and offers a high survival rate.

Therefore, the vitrification of eggs allows to carry out new therapeutic options that have revolutionized the field of assisted reproduction.

What is Vitrification of eggs?

Egg vitrification is a technique that allows the eggs to be stored for an indefinite period of time without altering their quality. It is commonly known as egg freezing and is used by many women who wish to delay their desire for motherhood. However, vitrification and freezing are two different terms.

Until recently, the slow freezing technique was used, but its main drawback was the production of ice crystals inside the cells, which compromised their viability.

Slow freezing and vitrification of eggs

For this reason, vitrification was developed, an ultra-fast freezing technique where cells go from room temperature to -196ºC in a very short time. Specifically, eggs obtained from follicular puncture are passed through different increasing concentrations of cryoprotectants before reaching cryopreservation temperature.

If you want more information about egg vitrification, you can continue reading the following article: What Is Egg Vitrification? - Advantages Over Freezing.

Frozen donor egg IVF

The main difference between IVF with frozen eggs and IVF with fresh eggs is that the oocytes are obtained in a previous stimulation cycle and are frozen by vitrification until the moment of fertilization and embryo transfer.

This IVF alternative can be considered as a continuation of a fertility treatment that started earlier.

It is only necessary to thaw the oocytes a few hours before fertilization. In most cases, microinjection of the sperm into the egg, i.e. IVF-ICSI, is chosen. The embryos generated in the laboratory are incubated until the moment of transfer to the uterus or until they are vitrified.

Indications

IVF with vitrified eggs is necessary for all those who have frozen eggs. Therefore, We need to determine the situations in which it is recommended to freeze the eggs and use them for later IVF treatments.

To continue, we discuss each of these as follows:

• Preservation of female fertility when a woman is going to undergo oncological treatment or wishes to delay her desire for motherhood for economic and/or social reasons.
• Cycles of oocyte accumulation due to low ovarian response.
• Problems obtaining spermatozoa on the day of the ovarian puncture.
• Avoid ovarian hyperstimulation.
• Ethical or moral issues.

When is IVF with frozen eggs recommended?

Furthermore, egg vitrification is usually performed in cases of egg donation. In this way, IVF treatment with ovodonation is simpler since it does not require synchronizing the menstrual cycles of donors and recipients. In addition, having donor eggs frozen in banks reduces the waiting lists for this type of reproductive treatment.

For more information on this, don't miss the following article: Donor-Egg IVF Procedure for Recipients - Protocol & Cost.

Advantages and disadvantages

IVF with vitrified eggs has the great advantage that it can be done at any time. What is really important is when the vitrification of the eggs takes place.

If the patient is clear that she does not wish to become a mother for the moment, it is best to preserve her fertility. Problems in So there will be no When the patient feels ready, it will only be necessary to thaw the eggs (which retain the same quality) and they will be fertilized with the sperm of the couple or a donor.

However, the vitrification of the eggs may involve the loss of some of them when they are thawed for fertilization. Although rare, the success rate of IVF treatments with vitrified eggs may be altered.

IVF with frozen eggs and pregnancy

In recent years, the technique of egg freezing has improved greatly. This means that about 90-97% of the eggs survive the thawing process.

For this reason, IVF with vitrified eggs offers high success rates, very similar to those obtained with fresh eggs. The results obtained in 2021 and published in the statistical registry of the Spanish Fertility Society (SEF) are as follows::

Gestation rate per transfer

34.4% when using fresh oocytes and 41.9% with vitrified oocytes.

By transfer birth rate

25.2% when using fresh oocytes and 28.4% with vitrified oocytes.

Success rates of IVF with own vitrified eggs

However, these percentages are higher when donor eggs are used due to their normally higher quality. Specifically, the gestation rate with fresh donor eggs is 58.7% and with vitrified eggs 52%.

If you want to learn more about IVF success in general, you can continue reading this article: Problems in In vitro fertilization: Success Rates in Assisted Reproduction.

IVF with own frozen eggs video

In this video, Esther Marbán, fertility specialist at the Tambre clinic in Madrid, talks about IVF with vitrified eggs:

This is the procedure by which we are going to defrost the eggs that the patient frozed in the past with the idea of creating the embryos. So, those cells will be fertilized with the patient's partner sample (or with a sperm donor sample) to create the embryos at the laboratory for a future embryo transfer.

FAQs from users

What will happen to my vitrified eggs if I get pregnant naturally and no longer need them?

Indeed, it is possible that after having vitrified oocytes, the patient may not want to use them to obtain a pregnancy. After all, vitrification of oocytes allows us to postpone the decision to become a mother with your own eggs and have the peace of mind that when that time comes, you have the same chances of getting pregnant as you have at the moment.

However, it may happen that in the end you do not need to resort to an assisted reproduction technique to achieve it and you get pregnant naturally.

Depending on the laws in your partiular country or state, there are three options for the destination of the vitrified oocytes in addition to their own use:

• Donation of the egg cells for scientific research.
• Donation of the egg cells for use in reproductive techniques in other patients.
• Apply for the termination of the preservation.

In any case, if you meet the criteria, you will choose the purpose of your eggs. Another possibility is that you want to keep the vitrified eggs for a second gestation and thus complete your desired family project. Remember that once the oocytes are vitrified, they do not deteriorate with the passage of time, remaining in exactly the same conditions as when they were vitrified.

Is IVF with frozen eggs better than IVF with fresh eggs?

Egg freezing and vitrification are techniques used to preserve eggs for an indeterminate period of time. Until relatively recently, slow freezing was the most commonly used technique, but it has now been replaced by vitrification.

Vitrification and devitrification procedures are standardised processes that allow the risks of survival of both oocytes and embryos to be reduced to a minimum. Although it is true that, as with all assisted reproduction techniques, there are associated risks, reduced to around 3% both in terms of survival and in terms of a decrease in the potential success of the embryos. It is important to bear in mind that the survival of the embryos may be affected by poor handling or acceptance of the oocytes to the cryoprotectants, which may result in the oocytes not being able to survive the technique.

The decrease in survival will be associated with starting the microinjection process with fewer oocytes than those previously vitrified, but those that are able to evolve have gestational success rates similar to those of fresh oocytes.

Apart from the oocyte quality, the usefulness of vitrified oocytes, especially from donors, lies in the possibility of better coordination of the cycle and even the possibility of carrying out the transfer in fresh and natural cycle.

In any case, what is really important is the achievement of a full-term pregnancy, regardless of the fresh or frozen origin of the gametes or embryos.

Is IVF with frozen eggs better than IVF with fresh eggs?

Ovodonation with vitrified eggs has very similar pregnancy rates to fresh eggs. The only difference may be in the number of eggs from which the eggs are retrieved. In addition, it is also vitally important to have the survival rate of devitrification of the eggs.
Read more

Recommended reading

One of the most frequent reasons for using vitrifies oocytes is because the woman decides she wants to delay becoming a mother, In these cases fertility preservation is needed. If you are interested in learning more about this please visit the following link: Fertility preservation in young women.