Health

18 HEALTH • Winter 2017 Local fertility docs help patients add minutes to the clock \\ By Susan Shalhoub W hen it comes to reproductive fer- tility, the biologi- cal clock is always ticking. And while medical science has come a long way since Louise Brown became the world's first test-tube, or in-vitro fertilization (IVF) baby in 1978, scientists still haven't found a way to stop and start the clock at will. CAN FREEZING EGGS FREEZE TIME? P H O T O / D R E A M S T I M E There are, however, more options for women when it comes to issues of timing, such as the retrieval, freezing and preservation of ovarian eggs for later fertilization — with much of the process, but not all — done in Central Massachusetts. Experts at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester and at Boston IVF — which has offices in Worcester, Framingham, Milford and Westborough — say that the technology of egg freezing has grown over the past decade, offering an option previously not available to women, but still evolving and raising new questions along the way. Egg freezing is a relatively simple, straightforward process that potentially delivers significant results. The assisted-fertility process of freezing ovarian eggs is also known as egg vitrification. First, six to 10 eggs are harvested from a patient's ovaries, dehy- drated, put into liquid nitrogen and stored at minus-196 degrees Celsius. When the patient is ready — months or years later — the eggs are fertil- ized and put back into the uterus as embryos, ideal- ly resulting in a viable, healthy pregnancy. Some considerations Women investigate egg freezing for a varierty reasions. Upcoming cancer treatments may impact fertility, for example. Entering prime childbearing years without a partner is another common rea- son, says Dr. Kim Thornton, a reproductive endo- crinologist at Boston IVF. The older a woman gets, the more egg quality declines. "More women are doing it. It allows women to preserve reproductive options they may not have as they continue to get older," she said. "A woman who freezes eggs at 35 and comes back with an interest in conceiving at 40 is going to have better egg quality." Thornton added that advances in technology have made frozen eggs' chances of survival and embryo development "excellent." That isn't to say a patient will definitely conceive or carry a baby to term, Thornton noted, but it's a strong alternative before exploring other options, like egg donors or adoption. Retrieval of six to 10 eggs will usually run in the $10,000 range, said Dr. Julia Johnson, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UMass Memorial Medical Center, plus several hundred dol- lars each year for storage. If it is a case where radia-

• Cover