{"id":51543,"date":"2019-05-07T15:02:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T13:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/?p=51543"},"modified":"2024-02-23T14:56:34","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T12:56:34","slug":"millennials-know-about-fertility-preservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ivi.uk\/blog\/millennials-know-about-fertility-preservation\/","title":{"rendered":"What do millennials need to know about fertility preservation?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Research has just been published in the prestigious journal Human Reproduction<\/em> that may set alarm bells ringing for those thirty-somethings hoping to start a family at some point but \u2018not yet\u2019. The woman heading IVI\u2019s Cryobiology Unit, Dr. Ana Cobo<\/a>, lead a medical research team which has confirmed in starkly revealing terms that \u2018not yet\u2019 is a risky approach to planning a family.<\/p>\n Put simply, women who were 35 or under when they opted for oocyte vitrification<\/strong>, the fertility treatment<\/strong> which can preserve women\u2019s fertility for future years, were over 40% more likely to achieve a successful outcome than those who undertook the treatment at over 35.<\/p>\n Our IVI blog article explores the issues around the best chances of getting pregnant<\/strong> for a whole generation of women and examines in detail the treatment itself and how it can be accessed through the NHS or with private fertility treatment<\/strong> in the UK.<\/p>\n In detail, the research found that those women who elected for oocyte vitrification<\/strong> before the age of 35 achieved a success rate of 94% by obtaining 24 oocytes to vitrify. Amongst those who were over 35, with a similar number of oocytes, the success rate barely reached a 50% probability of full-term pregnancy. There is no clearer evidence that oocyte quality starts to decline significantly around this time and therefore the best chances of getting pregnant<\/strong> is by vitrifying the oocytes at younger ages (at the age of 35 or below). This simple fact deserves to be known more widely, if only because of another telling result of this research. It shows that by far the largest group, 70%, of patients opting to preserve their fertility for social reasons, was above the age of 35 and in fact this group included 15% who were over the age of 40. That means that somehow, the awareness message has been sent but, the age implications and limitations on the oocyte quality haven\u00b4t been explained clearly enough.<\/p>\n Of course we\u2019ve all heard of the friend of a friend who became pregnant at the age of 42, but in reality such occurrences are rare. That\u2019s why they are remarkable. It does seem uniquely unfair that for many of us, just at the time that we\u2019re making progress in establishing a career, perhaps buying a property, or still looking for the ideal partner to form the basis of a future family, this additional pressure should be part of our lives. But that\u2019s the reality. Facing up to it and planning accordingly can, in contrast, lift a lot of the pressure and silence the ever-present ticking of the biological clock.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This is the technique by which a woman can have her unfertilised eggs frozen and kept until such time as they are required in the future. It is the fastest-growing aspect of the work of IVI, still a small proportion of the total fertility treatments<\/strong> available but growing from 2% of all treatments to 22% over the period 2007 to 2017. Not only is fertility preservation the fastest-growing sector in the field, but the technique itself is improving all the time. IVI has pioneered the vitrification method, which is the newest and the one with the best results. With the vitrification technique, oocyte survival figures of up to 97% have been achieved for younger patients up to 35 years old.<\/p>\n The treatment is for two main groups of people. The first is women who for the social, financial or personal reasons we have mentioned wish to delay their family project to some point in the future. They also want to avoid the risk of finding they have left it too late when the right time finally arrives. The second group is where the treatment is indicated for medical reasons, primarily when the patient is about to undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer or other conditions, because often such treatments can impair fertility.<\/p>\n In addition there are other people for whom elective oocyte vitrification<\/strong> can be appropriate. As the Human Fertilisation & Embriology Authority states: \u201cAmong them are women who are at risk of injury (for example, members of the Armed Forces who are being deployed to a war zone). Or a female transitioning to a male may want to preserve future fertility before undertaking hormone therapy or reconstructive surgery, both of which can lead to partial or total loss of fertility\u201d.<\/p>\n You could describe delayed fertility treatment through oocyte vitrification<\/strong> as almost identical to the normal IVF process, with the major difference that there is a gap in the middle. The video about fertility preservation on our IVI YouTube channel explains what happens. Here is a summary.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/h2>\n
How did the fertility preservation research reach its conclusions?<\/h2>\n
What is fertility preservation and who is it for?<\/h2>\n
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How exactly does fertility preservation treatment work?<\/h2>\n