Social Freezing

Thinking ahead gives more family planning options

The freezing of eggs increases a woman's chances of having children later in life and in cases where she suffers cancer. Sterignost is the first Austrian clinic to offer advice and treatment in this field.

A woman's biological clock starts ticking a lot sooner than a man's. A man of 70 is still able to produce functional sperm, whereas a woman over the age of 40 has great difficulty conceiving.

The cryo-preservation of sperm has already been practised successfully for over 50 years. The fragile egg, however, has delicate inner structures and a cytoskeleton that is very vulnerable to the formation of ice crystals. Research has now managed to open another door in reproductive medicine by successfully freezing and thawing eggs.

It is usually difficult for women aged 40 and over to become pregnant the natural way. Furthermore, late pregnancies bear an increased risk of miscarriage and genetic abnormalities. Women these days, however, can expect to live another 30 to 40 years in good health.

"Social freezing" is the precautionary freezing of eggs for future fertilisation. This process adds a new perspective to the question up to what age pregnancies are viable.

Women at an advanced age, who are still looking for a partner for life, can now rely on reproductive medicine for more freedom of choice. Especially women between the ages of 30 and 35 choose this ethically sound option, so that, one day, they may hold their own biological child in their arms.

The timely freezing of eggs is also a practical remedy for many problems. Young single women about to receive chemotherapy choose cryopreservation to retain their chances of having a biological child.

IVF patients may decide to freeze eggs rather than embryos for a number of reasons, e.g. on ethical or religious grounds.