What is Embryo Freezing?

Freezing and storage of the Embryo, the cellular structure formed by insemination of the egg by the sperm, in laboratory environment is called Cryopreservation (Embryo Freezing) .

Who is Eligible?

When a large number of embryos with good quality is retrieved during IVF application, the non-transferred embryos are frozen and stored away. These embryos can be thawed to be used at later attempts in case of need. If a couple decides to have another baby after a pregnancy resulted in birth, pregnancy can be achieved by thawing the embryos, which have been frozen after obtained by the insemination of the couples own sperm and egg, and placing them into the woman's uterus. In cases such as failed pregnancy attempts using IVF or pregnancies resulting in miscarriage, having one's embryo frozen also offers both a financial and spiritual advantage for prospective parents by avoiding starting over the whole treatment process.

Freezing and storage of the Embryo, the cellular structure formed by insemination of the egg by the sperm, in laboratory environment is called Cryopreservation (Embryo Freezing) .

Who is Eligible?

When a large number of embryos with good quality is retrieved during IVF application, the non-transferred embryos are frozen and stored away. These embryos can be thawed to be used at later attempts in case of need. If a couple decides to have another baby after a pregnancy resulted in birth, pregnancy can be achieved by thawing the embryos, which have been frozen after obtained by the insemination of the couples own sperm and egg, and placing them into the woman's uterus. In cases such as failed pregnancy attempts using IVF or pregnancies resulting in miscarriage, having one's embryo frozen also offers both a financial and spiritual advantage for prospective parents by avoiding starting over the whole treatment process.

What are the Advantages?

Embryo Freezing eliminates the need for repeating the treatment process and administration of hormone medicine, thus allowing saving time by skipping many stages of the IVF treatment process, prevents exhaustion on the prospective mother's part, and provides a financial advantage. Since the couple's embryos are available in stock, there is no need for re-stimulation of the prospective mother's ovaries with medication and repeating the egg retrieval procedure. This cuts the treatment costs by half, is less stressful for the patient, eliminates the risk of unsuccessful egg or embryo collection as well as the stress of undergoing surgery, and improves the prospective mother's outlook on the treatment, which effectively boosts the chances of a successful pregnancy.

How is CRYO-Cycle Implemented?

Tablets containing estrogen hormone are used in the treatment. This hormone ensures a healthy development of endometrium (the mucous membrane lining the uterus) where the embryo will be implanted. When endometrium reaches a suitable thickness, embryos are thawed and transferred. In some patients, cryo-cycle can also be implemented during the natural menstrual period. Kryo siklusu bazı hastalarda doğal adet döneminde de uygulanabilir.

Vitrification Method:

In order to obtain the maximum number of live embryos after thawing process, the embryos must be frozen with a special technique specific to their development stage. The method used for freezing the healthy embryos remaining after embryo transfer is vitrification, a method whose success was proven with clinical experiments, which was performed at our center for the first time in Turkey. vitrifikasyonThe most important feature of the vitrification method is that embryos are treated with a high-density preservative for 3 to 4 minutes. The aim here is to extract the water molecules in the cells through a chemical process called osmotic equilibration by using extracellular cryoprotectants while simultaneously introducing the intracellular cryoprotectants in the cells. When the equilibrium is achieved in this exchange, in other words, when the water in the cell is fully replaced by cryoprotectants, the embryos are directly transferred into liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196⁰C. This process allows freezing the embryos with a cooling temperature of -2.000–20.000⁰C without causing any harm. kriyoprotektanlar In contrast to the classic-slow embryo freezing method, vitrification or rapid freezing method offers a significantly more successful freezing particularly for the 3rd-4th day and 5th-6th day (blastocyst) embryos. The vitality rate in post-thawing embryos, one of the most important criteria indicating the success of the freezing method, is close to 100% in embryos that have been frozen and thawed through vitrification. Klasik-yavaş embriyo dondurma In addition to high vitality rate in post-thawing embryos, vitrification method is also the most successful freezing method that provides prospective mothers with a second and greater pregnancy chance.