Monday 5 January 2009

Why freezing embryos is worthwhile

If you've had IVF treatment, you'll probably appreciate why freezing any spare embryos is a good idea - it gives you another chance to try to conceive in a less invasive (and cheaper) way than a full IVF cycle. However, some primary care trusts don't include the cost of freezing and transferring any spare embryos when they fund an IVF cycle - so if you can't afford to pay for it yourself, you won't have an opportunity to use all your embryos. It has always seemed wrong to me to agree to fund the treatment to create the embryos, but not to pay for their storage and use.

Now, there's more evidence to show that embryo freezing really does make all the difference to IVF success rates. Researchers at the Oxford Fertility Unit have shown that the chances of getting pregnant are fifty percent higher when you freeze and transfer spare embryos, which surely illustrates that it is not just sensible but also cost effective to fund freezing programmes.

There's more on the subject here

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