Fertility Preservation: Breast Cancer Awareness Month

27th October 2017 in Fertility

This information was correct at the time of publishing. It may not reflect our current practices, prices or regulations.

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and for many women diagnosed with the disease fertility preservation is an important factor, as quick decisions are often needed regarding future fertility.

Here are some useful Q&As all about fertility preservation for medical reasons, including future treatment options using your frozen eggs:

I need to start cancer treatment but I want to freeze my eggs first. How long will it take?

At Manchester Fertility we can get you started on an egg-freezing programme immediately and will fast-track everything we can, so preserving your fertility doesn’t cause unnecessary delay to your medical treatment. Freezing your eggs takes just a matter of weeks.

What’s the egg freezing process?

It’s very similar to IVF except your eggs are frozen and stored instead of fertilised. Your ovaries will be gently stimulated using tailored fertility medications to produce mature eggs, which we’ll then retrieve at exactly the right time in our clinic theatre.

Your eggs are then frozen in liquid nitrogen in our state-of-the-art laboratory, until you wish to try to conceive with them.

How many eggs will I have for freezing?

How many mature eggs you have for future fertility treatment depends on how well you respond to ovarian stimulation. We’d hope to retrieve around eight to ten eggs. Our focus in quality eggs, not quantity. So you have the best chance of future pregnancy.

How long can I freeze my eggs for?

We can freeze your eggs for up to 10 years. Giving you plenty of time to decide when it’s best for you to try and conceive.

What are the chances of pregnancy using my eggs in future?

Chances of pregnancy depend on lots of different factors. We do everything we can to ensure your eggs fertilise successfully and a good quality embryo is transferred.

We use an advanced technique called vitrification to freeze eggs, which results in excellent survival rates. We can choose the best embryo to transfer through advanced methods including time-lapse embryo development and Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening if appropriate. And we use EmbryoGlue for all transfers at no cost to you, which helps the embryo implant for pregnancy.

What if I don’t have a partner when I want to use my eggs in future?

Don’t worry –we have UK sperm donors immediately available in our donor sperm bank, so you can choose your ideal sperm donor for fertilising your eggs, when the time is right.

What if using my frozen eggs doesn’t work?

If your frozen eggs don’t result in pregnancy or it’s advised that you don’t attempt egg-freezing, we have UK donor eggs available with no waiting list. Our egg donors are all from our own egg donor programme, they are all young, healthy and fertile women and are fully identifiable and traceable to your child in future.

Is there any other option to preserve my fertility?

Instead of freezing your eggs you could fertilise them through IVF, which means you’d be freezing embryos. You’ll then have a Frozen Embryo Transfer in future. If you don’t have a partner right now, donor sperm can be used.

How can I get some fertility preservation advice?

We’ll assess your suitability to egg freeze or freeze embryos through IVF at your initial consultation, taking into account your age and other factors including your diagnosis and required medical treatment. So we can give you informed and realistic advice about which approach is best for your circumstances.

Book an appointment

If you’d like our help to preserve your fertility, call our Patient Advisors on 0161 300 2737 to book an appointment, including any short notice appointments we have available.

Last updated: 26th October 2017