Donor Tissue Counseling
Embryo freezing allows embryos created through IVF to be preserved for future use. For some patients, embryos are frozen before a future frozen embryo transfer. For others, embryo banking is an intentional part of a longer-term family-building strategy, or embryos are frozen while awaiting genetic testing results.
At Spring Fertility, embryo freezing is performed using vitrification, a rapid-freezing technique that allows embryos to be safely preserved until you are ready for a future transfer.
Your physician will help you understand not only how embryos are frozen, but how embryo freezing fits into your individual treatment and family-building goals.
There are many reasons embryo freezing may become part of an IVF treatment plan.
Some patients choose to create and freeze embryos now for pregnancies they hope to pursue in the future. Desired family size, age, ovarian reserve, and other individual factors can influence whether a physician recommends proceeding with embryo transfer or first considering additional embryo banking.
Not every embryo created during IVF will necessarily be transferred during the same treatment cycle. Embryos appropriate for cryopreservation may be frozen for potential use in a future frozen embryo transfer.
When patients pursue preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), embryos are typically biopsied at the blastocyst stage and frozen while testing is completed. Results can then help inform which embryo may be considered for a future transfer.
For some patients facing medical treatment that could affect future fertility, creating and freezing embryos may be one fertility-preservation option. Whether embryo or egg freezing is more appropriate depends on the patient’s individual circumstances and goals.
Embryo freezing occurs after eggs have been retrieved and fertilized through IVF.
After ovarian stimulation, mature eggs are retrieved and fertilized using sperm from a partner or donor. Depending on the individual treatment plan, fertilization may occur through conventional insemination or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Following fertilization, embryos are carefully cultured and monitored by the embryology team as they develop. Embryos that reach the appropriate stage and meet criteria for cryopreservation may then be frozen.
If preimplantation genetic testing is planned, embryos may be biopsied before freezing.
Spring uses vitrification to cryopreserve embryos. Vitrification cools embryos extremely rapidly while using cryoprotective solutions to minimize the formation of damaging ice crystals.
After vitrification, embryos are maintained in cryogenic storage until they are needed for a future transfer.
When you’re ready to pursue pregnancy, your physician can help determine when and how a frozen embryo transfer fits into your treatment plan.
Freezing an embryo can take just moments, but protecting it begins long before it enters storage.
Spring Fertility’s embryology laboratories are designed to carefully control the environment surrounding eggs and embryos throughout their time in the lab. Our focus on laboratory conditions, embryology expertise, safety and continuous monitoring reflects a simple principle: every egg and embryo matters.
Embryo freezing is also not considered in isolation from the rest of your treatment. Your physician can consider your age, reproductive history, ovarian reserve, treatment response, number of embryos, genetic testing plans and longer-term family-building goals when determining what comes next.
For some patients, the important decision isn’t simply whether an embryo can be transferred. It’s whether transferring now is the best strategy for the family they ultimately hope to build.
Consider two patients of the same age with similar fertility profiles. One hopes to have one child. The other hopes to have three.
Their next steps may be different.
For the patient hoping for a larger family, a physician may discuss completing another retrieval and banking additional embryos before pregnancy. That’s because pregnancy and childbirth take time, while reproductive potential changes with age.
For another patient, moving directly toward embryo transfer may make more sense.
Personalized care doesn’t mean everyone should bank more embryos. It means considering the individual patient’s clinical picture and future goals when deciding what should happen next.
Egg freezing and embryo freezing both preserve reproductive options, but they occur at different points in the process.
With egg freezing, retrieved eggs are frozen before fertilization. In embryo freezing, eggs are fertilized first, and embryos suitable for cryopreservation are frozen for potential future transfer.
Creating embryos can provide additional information about fertilization and embryo development, while egg freezing allows a patient to preserve unfertilized eggs without deciding on a sperm source.
Your physician can help you understand which approach better fits your current circumstances and future family-building goals.
Embryo freezing typically occurs as part of a broader IVF treatment plan, so costs depend on the services involved in creating, testing, freezing and storing embryos.
Ongoing embryo storage fees may also apply.
Before treatment, Spring’s financial team can help you understand your anticipated costs, insurance or fertility benefits when applicable, financing options and storage fees.
Yes. Embryos are created after eggs are retrieved and fertilized through IVF. Embryos appropriate for cryopreservation can then be frozen for potential future use.
There are several possible reasons. Your physician may recommend freezing embryos as part of genetic testing, because your clinical circumstances favor a frozen embryo transfer, or because embryo banking may better support your longer-term family-building goals.
Embryos are cryopreserved using vitrification, a rapid-freezing technique designed to minimize ice-crystal formation and protect the embryo during freezing and storage.
Embryos can remain cryopreserved for many years. Your care team can explain Spring’s storage policies and any applicable legal or administrative considerations.
Eggs are frozen before fertilization. Embryos are created by fertilizing eggs with sperm before cryopreservation. The right option depends on your circumstances, reproductive goals and treatment plan.
When you’re ready to pursue pregnancy, your care team will develop a frozen embryo transfer plan. The embryo selected for transfer is warmed in the laboratory and, when appropriate, placed into the uterus.
Embryo freezing isn’t a separate decision from the family you’re trying to build. Whether you’re beginning IVF, considering genetic testing, preserving fertility or planning for more than one future child, your physician can help you understand how embryo freezing may fit into your larger treatment strategy.
At Spring Fertility, the goal isn’t simply to freeze embryos. It’s to help you make thoughtful decisions about how and when to use them in pursuit of the family you hope to have.