Today you have the opportunity to postpone a possible child’s project thanks to cryopreservation techniques. The Avicenne ART center now offers fertility preservation for men and women by freezing sperm and oocytes.

The reasons that can push an individual or a couple to want to preserve their fertility are:

    • The person is faced with medical treatments that may affect their fertility such as chemotherapy, radiation or other sterilizing surgery.
    • The couple’s desire to postpone having children, for personal reasons

The ART center Avicenne thus gives you the possibility of preserving your genetic heritage thanks to the following techniques:

Vitrification of oocytes

Women of childbearing age can now choose to store their eggs through a technique called vitrification. This technique has existed since the 1990s and experienced a real boom during the 2000s. This option requires the woman to go through the process of ovarian stimulation and oocyte puncture, always under the supervision of a gynecologist. The collected oocytes are prepared in the laboratory to be vitrified and stored in liquid nitrogen at -196 ° C. These oocytes can be used at the time desired by the couple several months or years after vitrification. Fertilization will necessarily require performing the ICSI technique (intracytoplasmic sperm injection).

In general, keeping the oocytes offers a couple more chance of having a child if infertility occurs, however without a certain guarantee of pregnancy.

Studies have also clearly shown a decrease in the chances of having a child for women after the age of 35-37, and therefore fertility, as well as oocyte reserves, decline with age.

Sperm freezing

Cryopreservation of sperm, also called slow freezing, is a technique that has existed for over 100 years and is now perfectly mastered. It is often recommended for patients undergoing potentially sterilizing medical treatment (testicular tumor or other), or for patients with ejaculatory difficulties or few sperm per ejaculate. This is to ensure that a satisfactory semen sample will be available on the day of a scheduled procedure.

The collection of sperm is carried out by masturbation in the laboratory, by appointment, in a room completely dedicated to this purpose. Brief analysis of the collected sample is performed to ensure that a sufficient number of sperm is present and of satisfactory quality to survive freezing. In some cases where the sample is unsatisfactory, the doctor may use a testicular biopsy or surgical removal of sperm from the epididymis.

The sample can then be thawed at a time chosen by the couple, depending on their desire to conceive.