| ■ New Egg Freezing Method Called Safe | 2008.06.23 |
| A new method of freezing human eggs for later use is as safe as conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, say Canadian researchers, who looked at 200 children conceived using eggs that were rapidly frozen using a process called vitrification. In this method, water is removed from the egg, an "antifreeze" solution is added, and the eggs are then flash frozen in liquid nitrogen, BBC News reported. Up to 95 percent of eggs survive vitrification, compared with 50 percent to 60 percent of eggs frozen using older methods. The Canadian team found that about 2.5 percent of the children born using vitrified eggs had birth defects, which is about the same as in natural pregnancies and conventional IVF. The study appears in the journal Reproductive Biomedicine Online. Additional studies are needed before the safety of vitrification can be established, Dr. Allan Pacey, the secretary of the British Fertility Society, told BBC News. |