The Biological Clock
Fertility preservation is an important strategy for today's enterprising woman or couples who wish to pursue careers, advanced degrees, travel, or other life dreams before starting a family. It is also a smart strategy for couples over the ages of 35 who started their family later in life and want more than one child.
The quality of a woman's eggs begin to decline after the age of 23, and studies are now showing a man's sperm quality also begins to deteriorate at the age of 25. Fertility preservation is being used mostly by men and women in their late 30's and early 40's, but the biologically optimal time to preserve fertility is when eggs and sperm are of their best quality and have the best chances of producing a healthy baby: that is, close to the mid 20's for both men and women.
While at age 23 a woman's eggs begin a slow decline in quality, by the age of 35 her egg quality begins to decline more rapidly, and by the age of 41, due to poorer egg quality, she has only a 14.9% chance of having a baby using IVF. The following table represents live birth rates by age reported by the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART). Click here for detailed statistics.
| LIVE BIRTH RATES BY AGE | <35 | 35-37 | 38-40 | 41-42 | 43-44 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of live births per transfer (using fresh Embryos) | 43.3% | 35.8% | 25.3% | 14.8% | 5.5% |
| Average # of embryos transferred | 2.4 | 2.6 | 3 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| % of live births per transfer (using frozen Embryos) |
31.9% | 27.9% | 23.1% | 15.6% | 13.8% |
| Average # of embryos transferred | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
While men continue to regenerate new sperm throughout their lifetimes, their sperm quality begins to deteriorate after age 25. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has reported twenty known birth defects caused by damaged sperm found in older fathers, and another study reported that it takes a man over the age of 45 five times longer than when he was 25 to impregnate a woman.
New Hope Fertility Center uses the most advanced freezing technology, Vitrification, as its fertility preservation freezing method for eggs, sperm, embryos, and ovarian tissue.
Egg Freezing by Vitrification
Egg freezing is a new strategy for women who wish to preserve their fertility at an age when their eggs are most viable. We recommend women freeze their eggs in their 20's or by the age of 35. There is, however, no age limit?it all depends on the woman?s body and if eggs can still be retrieved eggs from her ovaries. Egg freezing has only been available for roughly three years, and many women in their late 30's and 40's have recently embraced this new method for prolonging their fertility. If you wish to put off childbearing, while preserving your fertility as it is today, whatever your age, we invite you to come in and have your fertility health tested.
We also recommend that you have an antral follicle count and hormonal blood tests with your annual pap smear. This will provide you with an important assessment of your fertility status and will allow you to make informed decisions about when to start a family or freeze your eggs. An antral follicle count is a sonogram that shows how many follicles (eggs) you have in reserve. This will tell us how much time you have left on your fertility clock.
Embryo Freezing by Vitrification
During many IVF cycles some women will have excess embryos that are not transferred into the uterus. We can freeze these embryos for future cycles; this circumvents egg retrievals during those future cycles.
Alternatively, the frozen embryos can remain in your Embryo Bank and be used when you are ready to welcome another baby into your family. This is especially beneficial for women over 35 whose egg quality will begin a rapid decline, potentially preventing her from becoming pregnant again naturally.
Last, another good strategy for couples not yet ready for parenthood is to use IVF to freeze and bank embryos for future use. Just in case, when the time is right, her eggs and his sperm are older and of poorer quality. Learn more...
Ovarian Tissue Freezing by Vitrification
Ovarian Tissue Freezing involves removing the ovary, carefully, microsurgically dissecting the tissue, freezing it, and subsequently transplanting it back to the woman when she's ready for a child. It is an alternative to egg freezing for women who prefer to undergo only one procedure to preserve all their eggs, rather than only those eggs that can be extracted and frozen each egg retrieval cycle.
Sperm Freezing by Vitrification
Sperm freezing is an option for men who also wish to preserve their fertility. Men do not have the same biological clock as women; they continue to produce new sperm during their lifetime?in contrast to women, who are born with a finite number of eggs (roughly 2 million), which they ovulate each month throughout their reproductive years until the eggs are finally depleted. But, even though men do not usually "run out" of sperm by a certain age, their sperm quality begins to deteriorate with age. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has reported twenty known birth defects caused by damaged sperm found in older fathers, and another study reported that it takes a man over the age of 45 five times longer than when he was 25 to impregnate a woman. For this reason, it is a prudent for men to freeze their sperm if they plan to wait to have children. It is never too early to consider this option, given the ease of the procedure and its relatively low cost of $400. We generally encourage men to create their sperm banks before the age of 25.