New trend of young people and salvation for infertile couples

The first egg freezing procedure was performed in 1986. Up to now, this technique has developed more and more, and there are many patients and cases in need of it.

Egg freezing opens up a lot of hope for infertile couples, along with ensuring the opportunity to have children for women who are focusing on their careers, people with reproductive diseases...

On worldEgg freezing is becoming a trend of choice for progressive women in the era of globalization. In Vietnam, egg freezing is increasingly receiving attention from the community.

Center for Assisted Reproduction and Transplant Technology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital Ha Noi has received and consulted many young couples, many unmarried women,... who want to learn about egg donation service to get pregnant later.

In 2023 alone, at the Center for Reproductive Support and Transplant Technology - Hanoi Medical University Hospital, doctors performed more than 300 egg retrieval and freezing cycles for patients.

According to Dr. Trinh Thi Ngoc Yen, Center for Reproductive Support and Transplant Technology, Hanoi Medical University Hospital, there is a general trend that everyone is very concerned about women's reproductive health.

In particular, in the current period, the trend of infertility is gradually getting younger. The hospital has encountered many young cases, when they went for examination, they discovered that their ovarian reserve had been greatly reduced. There were even cases born in 1998-2000 who had to freeze their eggs.

For example, recently, the hospital received a case of a girl born in 1998 in a similar situation. When she arrived here, her ovarian reserve was already depleted. Therefore, the only way we had to advise and prescribe the patient to freeze her eggs to preserve her ability to become a mother in the future.

Besides, the interest and understanding of young people is much better than before. Many people have gone for premarital health check-ups. This has helped them know their current ovarian reserve so that they can have the right attitude and treatment in having children.

Secondly, women today tend to be independent, taking on roles in society and also financially independent. They tend to marry later and are self-sufficient in all aspects of life. At the same time, their awareness of reproductive issues is also increasingly better. They have many channels to access information.

Physiologically, as a woman ages, the quality of her ovaries will gradually decline. In particular, after the age of 35, the quantity and quality of eggs will decrease significantly. After this age, the chance of a woman getting pregnant with her own eggs is greatly reduced.

The ideal age and the highest chance of getting pregnant in women is between 20-29 years old. After that, it starts to decrease gradually, especially after the age of 35.

From the age of 35, in addition to the decreased pregnancy rate, the rate of miscarriage and stillbirth increases. Therefore, the chance of having a healthy child for women after the age of 35 is very low. Therefore, when becoming more independent, women today think a lot about freezing their eggs to preserve their future fertility.

For example, when they freeze their eggs at the age of 30 due to some factors, and then get married at around 35-36 years old, we still prioritize using their own eggs to get pregnant naturally.

In case you cannot conceive naturally, you should go back to using frozen eggs. When using eggs frozen at age 30, the chance of pregnancy as well as the risk for future cycles is only calculated at age 30, not 35 as at the current age. That is the advantage of egg freezing.

Those who do not have a partner and do not intend to get married should go for a check-up and have their reproductive health checked to get advice from a doctor.

If the time to get married is too long and the ovarian reserve is not good, they should freeze their eggs to have a backup plan for their future.

If testing to evaluate ovarian reserve, there are many places that can do it such as provincial hospitals, even private centers can test to evaluate ovarian reserve. The most common test is the AMH index.

Egg freezing can only be done at facilities with reproductive support centers. Egg freezing is a special and difficult technique. Because eggs are the most special cells in a woman's body.

Typically, cryopreservation techniques in assisted reproduction include: egg freezing, sperm freezing, embryo freezing, and ovarian and testicular tissue preservation. Among them, egg freezing is almost the most difficult technique.

Regarding the egg freezing process, according to doctors, the process will begin when the woman begins her menstrual cycle to examine and evaluate her ovarian reserve as well as her general health.

In conditions where all conditions are met for using ovarian stimulation drugs, monitor ovarian response by transvaginal ultrasound and hormone testing; inject ovarian maturation drugs.

Then, the eggs are aspirated. After collecting the eggs, the doctors in the Lab will evaluate the eggs, separate the granulosa cells outside to collect the eggs. Accordingly, the mature eggs will be frozen and stored. It takes about 2 weeks.

The number of eggs frozen depends on the woman's ovarian reserve and response to ovarian stimulation medication. Studies have shown that 15 eggs is the expected number for successful freezing, with no difference between fresh and frozen eggs.

Later, if the woman is married, they will use the frozen eggs combined with the husband's sperm to create embryos, transferred into the woman's body to have children. If she is not married and wants to have children, the woman will ask for sperm from a sperm bank to create embryos.

All current studies support this view and evidence also shows that using frozen eggs and fresh eggs does not have any difference in results such as fertilization rate, embryo creation rate, pregnancy, good pregnancy, healthy pregnancy...

This success rate depends largely on the age of the woman at the age of egg freezing. In addition, it also depends on the number of frozen eggs, the culture conditions, the lab performing the procedure...

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Manh Ha, Head of the Department of Histology - Embryology, Hanoi Medical University, Director of the Center for Reproductive Support and Tissue Transplantation Technology, Hanoi Medical University Hospital, informed that cases coming to store eggs fall into 2 groups: Group for reasons medical such as wanting to preserve fertility before cancer treatment, not having sperm available for fertilization, or needing to collect and pool eggs for social reasons.

The number of patients coming for social reasons such as not wanting to get married, not intending to get married, young people proactively coming to freeze eggs, has increased in the past 3 years. In addition, cases before gender transition also come to freeze eggs.

The trend of egg freezing is increasing. One reason is due to medical reasons, more and more cancer patients are concerned about preserving the ability to have children after treatment.

“At the same time, patients with too few eggs must collect them to have enough for fertilization. Secondly, the age of marriage is increasing, modern women tend to marry late, while fertility does not last over time, it will decline after the age of 35,” said Associate Professor Ha.

Regarding the cost of egg freezing, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Manh Ha said that it is usually around 40-50 million VND including the cost of examination, testing, egg retrieval, etc. To maintain the frozen preservation of eggs in the frozen tubes, the annual cost is 1,7 million VND/tube.

Regarding doubts about the quality of frozen eggs, Associate Professor Ha affirmed that according to studies around the world, the live birth rate and embryo formation rate are not different between frozen eggs and fresh eggs. At the same time, with frozen eggs, the rate of children born, their psychology, weight, birth defects rate, as well as later development are not different.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Manh Ha recommends that, unlike sperm storage, egg freezing is not a simple technique, the implementation process is the same as in vitro fertilization, only lacking the embryo creation process behind. Therefore, women should not follow the trend but need to think carefully, should only do it when there is a real need and it is appropriate.