PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 1-Jul-2014 Contact: Christine Bauquis christine@eshre.eu 32-499-258-046 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Munich, 1 July 2014: The rapid freezing technique of vitrification is set to revolutionise egg donation as a fertility treatment by enabling freeze-storage egg-banking. The cryopreservation of eggs was one of IVF's continuing challenges until the widespread introduction of vitrification; the older slow freezing methods induced the formation of ice crystals, which could cause damage to several structures of the egg. Thus, as demand for egg donation increases as a treatment for age-related infertility, egg banking with vitrification can theoretically provide a large pool of donor eggs without the present need for collection, fertilisation and transfer in a "fresh" treatment cycle (in which the donor and recipient's cycles are hormonally synchronised). There is now increasing evidence that egg banking with vitrification is a viable process in egg banking programmes. However, little is known about success rates and how many vitrified eggs a recipient will need to maximise her chance of pregnancy - questions which are now answered in a study reported today at the Annual Meeting of ESHRE in Munich by Dr Ana Cobo of the Valencia Infertility Institute (IVI) in Valencia, Spain, one … Continue reading →