Some patients are able to have gametes retrieved and frozen for the future. When couples are ready to start families, the cells can be thawed and used accordingly.
Stored Eggs
Eggs that have been frozen are thawed and fertilized in the lab. The resulting embryo can then be transferred to the female partner, surrogate, or gestational carrier.
Stored Sperm
Frozen sperm is thawed and analyzed for any abnormalities. If it passes quality standards, it can be artificially inseminated into the female partner, surrogate, or gestational carrier. Or, it can be used to fertilize an egg in the lab for in vitro fertilization (IVF).
References
- American Society for Reproductive Medicine;“Third-Party Reproduction: Sperm, egg, and embryo donation and surrogacy” (2012);http://www.asrm.org/BOOKLET_Third-party_Reproduction/