The phenomenon of postponing motherhood has been increasing for more than two decades. According to IBGE data, from 1998 to 2018, there was an increase of 71.18% in motherhood for those aged 35 to 39, and 50.23% for those aged 40 to 44. With this, the egg freezing has become more common among women, so that they do not take risks during a late pregnancy .
In this scenario, the method appears “as an option to maintain good chances of pregnancy for this woman, who often, over the age of 35, will already see a drop in the chances of a natural pregnancy occurring”, says the specialist in Assisted Reproduction at Welcome Life, Larissa Matsumoto.
This is because a woman’s advanced age also leads to ovarian aging, which results in a loss of quantity and quality of eggs.
See below some curiosities about the procedure, for example, the meaning, how it works, number of eggs and what is involved in costs from freezing.
What is egg freezing?
According to Dr. Maria do Carmo Borges de Souza, medical director of FERTIPRAXIS Human Reproduction Center, “freezing eggs today means giving women reproductive autonomy”.
Larissa Matsumoto defines the procedure as “the most used for fertility preservation, whether for social purposes, or for women, who undergo treatments that may harm fertility in the future, such as oncological treatments, surgeries for endometriosis, treatments for autoimmune diseases. immune, or genetic condition that leads to loss of ovarian reserve”.
How does it work/what is the process like?
Before freezing eggs, women undergo a prior assessment of their ovarian reserve, which according to Dr. Maria do Carmo, occurs “ideally before the age of 35”.
“Hormonal ovarian stimulation is performed for 8 to 10 days, on average, so that several ovarian follicles available at that time in the cycle can grow and have within them the growth and maturation of one possible egg in each. This stimulation process involves the stimulating medication and another, which prevents the dominance of a single follicle from growing, which would occur in a woman’s natural cycle. Ultrasound monitoring is performed and, when several possible dominants are present, a new medication is administered to induce the ovulatory peak. From there, egg collection is scheduled, guided by transvaginal ultrasound, at a well-defined time”, explained Dr. Maria do Carmo.
Larissa Matsumoto tells how the capture is carried out: “The capture is carried out in a surgical center, with sedation. The process is quick, very safe, and a low-risk procedure. These eggs captured in the laboratory will be separated, and those that are mature will be frozen.”
How many eggs do I need to capture to be successful in future fertilization?
Regarding the amount needed to be successful, Larissa Matsumoto explains that there is a technique, called Violet, that individually predicts the chances of pregnancy.
“In general, when a 35-year-old woman freezes 15 eggs, the estimated chance of pregnancy, for normal semen, would be 70%, and, with 20, 80%. A 40-year-old woman who freezes the same 15 eggs will have a 40% chance of pregnancy”, explains the specialist.
What is involved in freezing costs?
Dr. Maria do Carmo emphasizes that the procedure costs “are defined according to the ovarian reserve, the medication to be used, the need for one or more cycles of collection, freezing and maintenance of these frozen eggs. Everything must be well discussed.”
According to Larissa Matsumoto, the costs are divided between the doctor’s evaluation and monitoring, the ultrasounds, the egg retrieval procedure, the medication, and the laboratory, which varies between 20 to 30 thousand reais.
There is also the option of shared donation, which can help reduce 50 to 70% of the cost of an egg freezing treatment.
This content was originally published in Egg freezing: find out interesting facts about the procedure on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil

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