Ensuring IVF Safety: Importance of Frozen Embryos for Fertility Preservation

TFD – Explore the necessity of frozen embryos for IVF safety and fertility preservation, particularly for cancer patients. Discover how genetic screening plays a vital role in reproductive health.

Following the verdict on IVF by the Alabama Supreme Court, medical professionals are cautioning that if fertility clinics discontinue using frozen embryos, young cancer patients may lose their opportunity to start a family and women undergoing IVF may suffer serious health concerns.

Dr. Irene Dimitriadis, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist at the Mass General Fertility Center in Boston, stated that “that is a possible reality.” “It pains me to consider that, as it suggests that medicine is regressing somewhat.”

Concerns that damaged or destroyed embryos may result in civil liability have arisen since the court’s decision last week that embryos made through in vitro fertilization are deemed children. As IVF clinics and physicians in other states prepare for what they think will be similar rulings or legislation, some reproductive clinics in Alabama have now stopped operating, placing patients in an emotional state of uncertainty.

Physicians claim that because frozen embryos are the safest IVF option for women attempting to conceive, they have been utilizing them for more than 15 years.

“We are freezing embryos to help ensure the health of the woman and the babies during the pregnancy,” stated Dr. Zev Williams, a fertility specialist at the Fertility Center at Columbia University. “There are numerous instances in which freezing embryos is better for the mother, the unborn child, and the pregnancy.”

Following the development of vitrification, a rapid freezing procedure that is safer for the embryo, freezing embryos for IVF became common procedure. Although there is still a chance of harm during the freezing procedure, medical professionals claim there are less issues than with the sole alternative, which involves using fresh embryos.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2% of babies in the United States are created with the use of assisted reproductive technologies. While some research indicates that using frozen embryos results in higher success rates, medical professionals claim the data is inconclusive.

The ability to transfer embryos to the uterus one at a time is a significant advantage of freezing embryos. Before advances in freezing technique allowed for the transfer of multiple embryos at once, the goal was that at least one would implant and become pregnant. But in other circumstances, that raised the chance of having triplets, quadruplets, or more.

The majority of those in that circumstance either give birth too soon or the fetuses die since the uterus is not designed to carry more than one child, according to Dr. Emily Jungheim, chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Northwestern Medicine. “In the neonatal critical care unit, higher-order multiples will always result in a longer wait time.”

According to Jungheim, there is a significant danger of blindness, intestinal damage, and other long-term impairments for several prematurely delivered newborns. A cesarean section is typically required for mothers carrying multiples.

“We’re just learning about what that can do to the mother later in life when we put that kind of stress on her body,” the speaker continued.

According to medical professionals, freezing embryos also allows a woman’s body to heal before the embryo is transplanted. The body is impacted by the hormones and drugs used in IVF cycles to increase egg production.

“The lining of the uterus sees higher levels of estrogen during an IVF cycle, which creates a nontypical environment,” Williams explained. The likelihood of problems increases if the embryos are returned to such setting. It is preferable to postpone the transfer. It is preferable for a fresh, healthy lining to exist.

IVF-related medications also increase a woman’s risk of developing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which makes the ovaries enlarge and uncomfortable. According to Dimitriadis, being pregnant while having this illness carries a high risk of blood clots, pulmonary embolisms, and even death.

“It’s safer if I can freeze embryos instead and have her return later,” stated Jungheim.

preserving fertility during cancer therapy

Chemotherapy-induced infertility can be just as upsetting to young female cancer sufferers as the actual cancer diagnosis. According to medical professionals, the ability to freeze embryos may be the only comfort during one of the most trying periods of a person’s life.

“A woman’s eggs may be destroyed during treatment if she has cancer,” Williams stated. “If she has IVF and freezes her embryos, she will have stored embryos to aid in her family building after she heals.”

Doctors claim that without frozen embryos, they won’t be able to screen for and detect diseases like sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis, which are genetic disorders that parents with mutations carry on to their offspring and can be fatal. Currently, doctors can perform tiny biopsies on the embryos to identify the healthy ones if the parents are known carriers.

Dimitriadis remarked, “But to do that, we need to be able to freeze the embryo after we biopsy it.” “We won’t have time to receive the test results back if we don’t freeze the embryo after we biopsy it.”

According to Dimitriadis, comparable tests can be used to determine the reason behind repeated miscarriages in women and ensure that the healthiest embryos are implanted.

She remarked, “You can imagine the struggles they go through.” “A lot of the angst and despair they feel can be avoided by doing this.”