Fertility preservation

Who considers it

• Before medical treatment — chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery that may affect fertility. This is time-critical and should be raised with your oncology team early, so that timing can be coordinated.
• By personal choice — where you are not ready to try for a pregnancy but are conscious of age.
• Before certain gynaecological surgery, such as extensive endometriosis surgery.
• Where a partner is away at the time treatment is scheduled.

How egg freezing works

The process is the first half of an IVF cycle. Stimulation injections for around ten to fourteen days, monitoring scans, then egg collection under sedation. The eggs are frozen the same day by vitrification, an ultra-rapid method that avoids ice-crystal damage.

They stay frozen until you decide to use them, at which point they are thawed, fertilised by ICSI, and cultured as embryos.

Being honest about what it offers

The benefit depends heavily on two things: your age when the eggs are frozen, and how many are stored. Eggs frozen in the early thirties carry a materially better prospect than eggs frozen at forty, because it is the age of the egg that matters, not the age at which it is used.

There is attrition at each subsequent stage. Not every frozen egg survives thawing, not every survivor fertilises, and not every fertilised egg becomes a viable embryo. This is why the number stored matters, and why more than one collection cycle is sometimes suggested.

Consent and storage

Storage requires written consent covering the duration of storage and what should happen to the material in defined circumstances. For embryos, consent is required from both partners, and either may withdraw it. These are not formalities — they are worth reading carefully and discussing before you sign. Storage in India is governed by the ART (Regulation) Act, 2021.

What the consultation covers

• Your reasons, your timeline and your goals
• Ovarian reserve assessment — AMH and antral follicle count
• What stimulation and collection involve, and their risks
• A realistic view of what your results suggest, given your age
• How many cycles might be advisable
• Storage arrangements, consent, duration and cost
• What using the eggs later would involve