Why do people freeze embryos?\nIn IVF treatment or ICSI treatment, there are some good-quality embryos left after embryo transfer. Instead of disposing of them, there is the option to freeze them to use in the future, for example, if the treatment gave negative results or for secondary infertility.\nEmbryos can also be frozen to preserve fertility, so it may be possible to have a baby at a later date.\nYou may wish to consider \nEmbryo freezing:\n\nTo keep the option of using the frozen embryos in the future (rather than having a further fresh IVF or ICSI cycle).\nFor known or unknown reasons, the treatment gets cancelled after the egg retrieval - for example, overresponse to fertility drugs. Then the couple is offered the opportunity to have any suitable embryos frozen to use later.\nFor chronic ailments like cancer or any other condition that might affect your fertility. (Fertility may be preserved either by storing eggs, embryos, or a combination of both.)\nThe embryos do not get affected even if they are stored for a longer duration. There is no evidence to suggest that.\nBefore freezing the embryos or eggs, the patient needs to be tested for any infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis. Not all embryos are suitable for freezing, so only good-quality embryos will be chosen to freeze. Embryos can be frozen at different stages of their development – when they’re just a single cell, at the two to eight cell stage, or later in their development (called the blastocyst stage).\nProcess of Freezing Embryos:\nRemove eggs from the ovaries\nFertilize them to create embryos \nGrow them and then \nFreeze\nHighly graded embryos can be frozen. This process, also called vitrification, replaces the water in the embryo cells with a protectant fluid and uses flash-freezing with liquid nitrogen to prevent the formation of ice crystals that could damage the cells of the embryo. \nFrozen Embryo transfer \ngives the same result as the fresh embryos.\nFrozen embryos are stored and monitored at hospital facilities, usually a lab, or commercial reproductive medicine centers. They can be safely preserved for 10 years and even longer. GarbhaGudi is the \nbest IVF Centre\n in Bangalore that has proper machinery for freezing embryos.\n
\nHow long are embryos kept for use in treatment?\nIf the embryos are not used immediately in treatment, they may be stored so that they can be used for treatment in the future. One needs to think wisely about the time period of storage and the cost involved in storing the embryos.  It should be discussed with the fertility clinic in detail before deciding to freeze the embryos. \nThe embryos can only be stored if proper consent is obtained from the concerned people. This may be your partner, or it may be a donor. Relevant consent forms are given, and a signature is obtained from the concerned individuals. The clinic will contact with relevant information, offer counselling, and after the consent, the storage of the embryos will be done.\nHowever, if you don’t pay for storage as agreed, the clinic is within its rights to dispose of your embryos. It would have been informed in the beginning itself.\nDoes freezing damage the embryos?\nAll embryos may not survive the freezing and thawing process, and very occasionally, not a single embryo will survive.\nResearch is on in this area; enough proof is not available to say whether storing embryos for longer periods has any negative impact.\nSometimes frozen embryos do lose a cell or two.  In many cases, the embryo will recover and continue to develop. Final authority lies with the clinic on whether the embryo is suitable for transfer or not.\nHow safe is it to use frozen embryos in treatment?\nFrozen embryos are as safe as using fresh embryos in assisted reproductive technology treatments. Mostly, it results in multiple births (twins or triplets). That may pose health risks to both mum and babies. This risk can be reduced by transferring only one embryo to the womb, a process known as elective single embryo transfer or eSET.\n

The success rate of frozen embryo transfer is on par with fresh embryo transfer. Frozen, good-quality embryos help avoid undergoing another full IVF cycle.\n

 Embryos can be safely stored for 10 years or longer, depending upon the regulations of the centre and the consent of the couple.

Modern vitrification technology reduces the risk of damage to embryos. Good-quality embryos stay safe for a longer duration.

\nGarbhaGudi IVF Centre \nis one of the best centres in Bangalore, having its own ART bank. Only \nhigh-quality, well-graded embryos\n are selected for freezing. \n

Explore advanced lab techniques for embryo freezing, helping preserve embryos for future use with improved success rates.

Advanced Lab Techniques in Embryo Freezing