PRESS RELEASE
Oocyte Bank
Preserving Female Fertility – Freezing the Biological Clock
The latest developments in the field of reproductive medicine guarantee the preservation of fertility for women who wish or need to do so. This involves the new revolutionary method of oocyte vitrification combined with rapid thawing. According to professor Nikos Prapas, who applies this new method at the IAKENTRO medical centre, the rate of viability is as high as 90%.
According to theprocedure followed, the oocytes are retrieved either following hormonal stimulation of the ovaries (freezing of multiple oocytes) or during the natural menstrual cycle (freezing of the oocyte that is naturally produced every month). When the woman wishes to become a mother, the oocytes will be thawed and the standard procedure of in-vitro fertilization will be followed (fertilisation and embryo transfer).
This method is applied to women of a young age, when their oocytes are still “young”, who wish to start a family at a later age due to their careers or other circumstances, in which case it is deemed necessary to preserve their fertility. In fact, the ageing of the ovaries begins gradually at the age of 34-37, and becomes more drastic from the age of 38 onwards. There are also other iatrogenic conditions that speed up the ageing of the ovaries, such as ovarian cancer, chemotherapy or radiation, and early menopause.
“By applying this method we are essentially freezing time and giving all women the opportunity to feel complete through child-bearing, even if their biological clock has already stopped ticking”, states Mr. Nikos Prapas.
