Egg Freezing & Embryo Banking

Since 2004, the Egg Freezing and Embryo Banking Program at the NYU Langone Fertility Center has been at the forefront of helping individuals and couples have babies when the time is right. Fertility preservation can be achieved through either egg freezing—also known as oocyte cryopreservation—or embryo banking, which is when eggs are combined with sperm before storage.

Our internationally renowned program is led by Dr. James A. Grifo, an expert in the field.

Choosing Fertility Preservation

Most people consider fertility preservation when parenthood is not possible or desirable at the present time. A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have. Eggs released when a person is younger are most often of better quality and more likely to result in a healthy pregnancy. Egg freezing or embryo banking allows people to preserve their fertility at their current age, and try to become a parent when they are ready.

Fertility preservation may be chosen for many reasons. A person may be receiving medical treatment, such as chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation therapy. Certain medical conditions—including endometriosis, large or recurring ovarian cysts, or, rarely, mosaic Turner syndrome—can negatively impact reproductive potential.

Having a progressive disease, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, renal disease, or sickle cell disease, can also prompt someone to seek fertility preservation. There are also many personal or professional reasons a person might choose to freeze eggs or embryos: lack of a partner, a recent or pending divorce, financial uncertainty, job constraints, military deployment, and a host of other life events. Both eggs and embryos can be stored indefinitely.

Egg freezing is the most commonly performed fertility preservation treatment at our center. Embryo banking is becoming a more frequent choice, particularly for young couples just starting their careers. Some patients opt for a combination of both egg and embryo banking, meaning some eggs are cryopreserved unfertilized and others are fertilized first before freezing.

Our physicians can discuss with you the benefits and drawbacks of each option.

Egg Freezing Success Rates

As of May 1, 2016, the Fertility Center has completed more than 2,600 egg freezing cycles, with more than 450 cycles now done annually.

Of cycles in which eggs have been thawed and used, three quarters were from people who used their own eggs; the remainder involved donor eggs, which are often procured as part of our Egg Donor Program. Commercial donor egg banks are also used. To date, 98 babies have been born and 6 additional babies are on the way. The Fertility Center’s pregnancy rates from egg thawing are on par with those seen in traditional in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles.

Some individuals and couples opt for preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) of embryos. PGS is not performed on unfertilized eggs. This screening procedure helps determine which embryos have a normal chromosome complement and thus are most likely to result in a healthy pregnancy and baby. Selecting a chromosomally normal embryo allows for a single embryo to be transferred, which lowers the chance of twins and higher-order multiples.

The Egg- and Embryo-Freezing Process

Both the egg- and embryo-freezing processes start much like traditional IVF. Medications are taken to stimulate the ovaries to simultaneously mature multiple eggs that can then be retrieved from the body and transferred to our embryology laboratory. In people who have cancer, ovarian stimulation protocols are tailored to each patient’s medical needs.

Below is an overview of the egg- and embryo-freezing process.

Step One: Consultation and Orientation

Before starting the treatment cycle, an initial consultation with one of our physicians must take place. After the consultation, you meet with a clinic coordinator to go over the timing of the treatment cycle and to schedule an orientation session. At orientation, you learn about ovarian stimulation and the freezing process, how to administer medications, what happens during office visits, and how the eggs are removed from the body and handled in the laboratory.

Please note that after the initial consultation and before beginning the actual egg-freezing or embryo-banking treatment, you must attend the Fertility Center’s orientation session.

Step Two: Ovulation Induction

In the course of a natural menstrual cycle, the brain produces hormones that stimulate one of the ovaries to release an egg. During egg-freezing or embryo-banking treatment, those same hormones are prescribed, known as fertility medications, to stimulate the ovaries to mature numerous eggs at once. Most often, having a greater number of eggs improves the chances of fertilization, and ultimately, a future pregnancy. Our goal is to retrieve between 8 and 25 eggs per treatment attempt.

Step Three: Egg Retrieval (Oocyte Retrieval)

When the eggs, also called oocytes, are ready to be retrieved from the body, our experts perform a “harvest” procedure at the Fertility Center using mild sedation. This procedure takes 5 to 10 minutes. The doctor—with the aid of ultrasound visualization—guides a needle through the vaginal wall and into the ovaries to gently suction the eggs from their follicles and into sterile test tubes. After eggs are retrieved, they are transferred to the embryology laboratory. The retrieved eggs are evaluated, and about three-quarters of these are generally considered mature enough for freezing or fertilization.

An anesthesiologist is present for all egg retrieval procedures. The anesthesiologist administers mild sedation and monitors vital signs during the procedure. As with any surgical treatment, there are risks associated with egg retrieval that should be discussed with your doctor.

Step Four: Cryopreservation in the Laboratory

Eggs that are not fertilized are carefully frozen using cryopreservation technology. Eggs to be fertilized before storage are placed with sperm to create embryos. Although eggs are frozen the day they are removed from the body, embryos are frozen either the day after egg retrieval—after fertilization has been documented—or five to seven days after the egg harvest procedure, when the embryo has reached the blastocyst stage. If preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) or diagnosis (PGD) is to be performed, it is done after the embryo has formed into a blastocyst.

PGS and PGD cannot be performed on unfertilized eggs but may be performed later, after the egg is thawed and combined with sperm to create an embryo. Any stored eggs or embryos remain on-site at the Fertility Center.

Financial Information

For some patients, the cost of egg freezing or embryo banking is covered by health insurance. For most patients, health insurance does not cover the cost of fertility preservation for reasons unrelated to a medical diagnosis, although this is beginning to change. If you have an insurance plan, talk with its representatives to find out what level of coverage you may have.

To learn more about egg freezing or embryo banking, or to schedule an appointment, please contact one of our specialists or call the Fertility Center at 212-263-8990.