Egg vitrification is currently one of the most important advances in assisted reproduction. This ultra-rapid freezing technique now allows the sensitive eggs to freeze quickly enough to avoid being damaged or destroyed.
Egg vitrification is currently one of the most important advances in assisted reproduction. This ultra-rapid freezing technique now allows the sensitive eggs to freeze quickly enough to avoid being damaged or destroyed.
The vitrification method creates new prospects for preserving women’s fertility. Many women postpone their decision of having children for social reasons, thus reducing the pregnancy rates because of progressive reduction of “good quality” eggs. Vitrification offers these women the option to cryopreserve their eggs and use them in the future while they are still young. Additionally, this technique is applied in cases of forthcoming cancer treatment, giving them hope of having a child in the future, and to create donor egg banks.
The vitrification process takes a few minutes and is based on the principle of ultra-rapid egg freezing, to avoid intracellular ice crystal formation. The use of next-generation cryoprotectants protects eggs from potential damage that could be caused from the cryopreservation process, and combined with ultra-rapid freezing leads eggs directly to the vitreous (glass) stage, bypassing the stage of ice crystal formation.