AlHijjah 3, 1433, Oct 19, 2012, SPA -- Freezing human eggs can be successful in treating infertility - but U.S. guidelines issued Friday still urge caution for women hoping to pause a ticking biological clock, AP reported. Egg freezing had long been labeled experimental, but the American Society for Reproductive Medicine declared that is no longer the case. The group cited studies that found younger women are about as likely to get pregnant if they used frozen-and-thawed eggs for their infertility treatment as if they used fresh ones. The move is expected to help cancer patients preserve their fertility, by pushing more insurers to pay for their procedure, and to boost banking of donated eggs, similar to sperm banking. Here is the controversy: Should otherwise healthy women freeze their eggs as sort of an insurance policy against infertility in case they do not meet Mr. Right - or just are not ready for motherhood - until their late 30s or beyond, when the childbearing window is closing fast? The pricey technology, which insurance does not cover for elective reasons, is being marketed aggressively for just that use. Yet the society that represents doctors who treat infertility stopped short of endorsing egg freezing solely for deferring childbearing until women are older. The conclusion: It's not at all clear who's a good candidate, or if women who store their eggs are being given a false sense of security. Anyone considering egg freezing needs careful counseling about their age and the odds of success if they want to later thaw those eggs for use in in vitro fertilization, the guidelines stress. But proponents of egg freezing, known medically as oocyte cryopreservation, say lifting the experimental label will encourage more women to check out the option, and they'll make an educated choice. Sperm routinely are frozen. So are the extra embryos of couples undergoing infertility treatment, in case they want to use them for later pregnancy attempts. But eggs proved more delicate and difficult to freeze than sperm or embryos. The problem: Eggs contain lots of water, and early methods of freezing and thawing allowed ice crystals to form that could destroy or damage them. In the past decade, scientists created a flash-freezing method called vitrification that appears to overcome that challenge. -- SPA
