Olive specialists can help with egg freezing options
DO YOU WANT A FAMILY BUT AREN’T READY TO HAVE A BABY NOW?
Like many clinics across North America, the team at Olive Fertility Centre has seen a surge of over 30 percent in the demand for egg freezing during the pandemic. Most women who want children, are aware of their reproductive clock ticking after their mid 30s. The pandemic has added to the challenges that many people experience in finding the right partner, and a record number of single women in their 30s have decided to take control of their reproductive future and freeze their eggs.
WHAT IS EGG FREEZING?
The egg-freezing process is the same as traditional IVF. It involves injecting medications that stimulate egg growth to the point they can be harvested. However, instead of fertilizing the eggs with sperm, the eggs are flashfrozen and stored until you’re ready to conceive in the future. At that point, the eggs are thawed in a lab and fertilized so that an embryo can then be transferred into the uterus.
EMPOWER YOURSELF WITH KNOWLEDGE
While fertility experts identify age 35 as when fertility starts to rapidly decline, the
fact is, we’re all unique and in some individuals, their egg quantity declines sooner than others. So if you’re considering egg freezing, it’s important to have a complete fertility assessment with a fertility specialist.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Your first step is to get a referral to a fertility clinic from your family doctor or a walk-in clinic (in B.C., your consult and most tests are covered by MSP with a referral).
YOUR FERTILITY ASSESSMENT
A fertility assessment includes a simple
blood test that indicates your ovarian reserve. Ovarian reserve testing helps predict the number of retrievable eggs you would get from an ovarian stimulation cycle.
While ovarian reserve tests can give some insight into the remaining quantity of your eggs, they don’t give information about the quality of your eggs. Lower egg quality leads to a higher rate of infertility, more frequent miscarriages, and a greater risk of chromosomal disorders in the baby. Until recently, there has been no way to evaluate egg quality. However, there is now a promising new assessment tool called
Violet that uses artificial-intelligence (AI) technology to help patients gain insight into the quality of the eggs they are freezing. Violet uses an algorithm, based on tens of thousands of images, to assess the probability of each individual egg developing into a healthy embryo and resulting in live birth.
Instead of trying to estimate your chances of conceiving based on just your age and number of eggs frozen, this technology assesses each egg independently.
Your doctor will review your Violet report during your follow-up consultation. Patients can use this added insight to make an informed decision about whether they want to do another cycle, and if so, how to tailor the next egg freezing attempt to optimize outcomes.
To learn more about egg freezing, signup for a free online discussion:
Let’s Talk About Egg Freezing
Wednesday, November 17, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
With Dr. Zhang and Dr. Cho
To register, go to olivefertility.com or email info@olivefertility.com.