Oocyte Cryopreservation

Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York (RMA of New York) is offering oocyte cryopreservation for patients

• Who anticipate having children after the age of 35
• Who are about to go under medical therapies (i.e. radiation treatment or chemo therapy) and are putting their reproductive abilities at risk, or
•  Who have a family history of endometriosis, premature ovarian failure, or early menopause.

Oocyte cryopreservation may be the right solution in order to preserve future fertility. The process by which a woman's unfertilized eggs are extracted from her uterus and are frozen at a very low temperature. When the woman becomes ready to attempt pregnancy, a fertility specialist team will slowly thaw her eggs and they will attempt to fertilize it through In Vitro Fertilization.

RMA of New York announced a breakthrough in a multi-site study sponsored by Extend Fertility whereby it successfully achieved 3 out of 4 pregnancies- a 75% success rate (Press Release in IN THE NEWS section below).

To inquire about RMA of New York's oocyte cryopreservation services, please ask for the oocyte cryopreservation coordinator at 212-756-5777 or email info@rmany.com.

IN THE NEWS

Marie Claire Magazine Writer Writes About Her Egg Freezing Experience at RMA of New York and appears with Dr. Tanmoy Mukherjee on Fox Channel's Mike and Juliet Show

 Marie Claire writer and RMA of New York Patient Sarah Elizabeth Richards talks about her personal experience in freezing her eggs. Click here to read the article. Click here to watch the Mike and Juliet Show featuring her and Dr. Mukherjee's interview.

March 19, 2008- WCBS Reporter Dr. Holly Phillips interviews Dr. Alan Copperman and Extend Fertility/RMA of New York patient Lucia Vazquez about the benefits of egg freezing. Click here to watch the news clip.

Wall Street Journal Article: Why Some Single Women Choose to Freeze Their Eggs

February 14, 2008; Page D1
Link to Article

Lucia Vazquez, 33, a single New Yorker, is a sensible professional, her friends say. She works hard at her career as a medical-supplies saleswoman, invests in stocks, has owned a house and doesn't take undue risks.
So why did Ms. Vazquez recently spend $12,000 on a medical procedure -- freezing and storing her eggs for a possible future pregnancy -- that some experts warn has a low chance of success and shouldn't be used by women like her? With a busy career and no plans for marriage soon, Ms. Vasquez explains, egg freezing eases her worries "about the clock ticking."
At 38, sales manager Nicki Armstrong is among a growing number of women who are freezing their eggs in hopes of becoming pregnant later in life.

As more women delay marriage and child-bearing, a small but growing number are having their eggs frozen in hopes of improving their chances of having children later. Some fertility clinics are creating a buzz by marketing egg freezing on the Internet and through presentations to such groups as 85 Broads, a Greenwich, Conn.-based professional women's network. The push has touched off a debate among physicians about appropriate use of the technology.

Egg freezing, or "oocyte cryopreservation," entails taking drugs to stimulate ovulation, then having eggs extracted surgically, frozen and stored for in vitro fertilization. Human eggs are difficult to freeze without damaging them; only about 500 babies have been born from frozen eggs. The procedure, which ranges from about $9,000 to $14,000, has been used as a way to preserve fertility for cancer patients facing treatments likely to render them sterile.
There are two distinct points of view on whether egg freezing should be promoted to healthy women. In a report last December, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommended against it, calling it "an experimental procedure" and citing research showing only 2% to 4% of frozen eggs thawed yield live births. Also, experts say, it's not yet clear whether babies born from such eggs will face any long-term health problems.

Glenn Schattman, a co-author of the report and an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Cornell University's Weill Medical College, says women risk making important life decisions based on "false assumptions" that their fertility is secure.
But advocates of expanding egg freezing say average success rates per patient are much higher, because women produce numerous eggs; also, the technology is improving. Christy Jones, a former Internet entrepreneur and founder of Extend Fertility in Woburn, Mass., which offers egg freezing through clinics in six states and promotes it to women's groups, says women should be informed about the technology and allowed to decide for themselves.

While most women wait until their late 30s to freeze eggs, Extend Fertility is promoting the procedure at younger ages, when the chances of success are higher, says Alan Copperman, [MD], director of reproductive endocrinology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and a clinical adviser to the firm.

Pros and cons aside, more women are embracing the technology for their own, highly personal reasons. For Nicki Armstrong, 38, a Salt Lake City sales manager who was divorced in 2006, the process preserves hopes of having a close family, and giving her parents the gift of grandchildren. She keeps a laboratory photo of her eggs, which she calls her "maybe babies," tacked to her home-office bulletin board. Becoming a mother is No. 1 among Megan Griswold's priorities. Lacking the right partner, the Boulder, Colo., actress and author says, she froze her eggs at 36. She's still intent on marrying and having babies the traditional way, but sees egg freezing as maximizing her opportunities for motherhood.
The medical questions about egg freezing are serious and legitimate. However, as one who wanted children so much that I initiated a foster-parent application before meeting my husband back in the 1970s, I can understand its appeal. Women considering it should research the risks and find a clinic with a track record of egg-freezing success. Doctors should readily share data about live births from eggs frozen at that site.

Ms. Vazquez, an Extend Fertility client, knows the odds, but her heart speaks louder. For her, egg freezing eases the pressure she feels from family members to have kids; she also may donate eggs to a sister with fertility issues. It takes "a leap of faith. If it works, fantastic," she says. If she needs the eggs and "it doesn't work, I will be heartbroken. But at the same time, what's the alternative?"

Extend Fertility and Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York Report Encouraging New Egg Freezing Results Three out of four study participants achieve pregnancy with donated frozen eggs; results provide additional support for egg freezing as an option for fertile women

BOSTON and NEW YORK, November 15, 2005 – Extend Fertility™ and Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York (RMA of NY) today announced initial results in the ongoing Extend Fertility-sponsored multi-site study designed to further the science and efficacy of oocyte cryopreservation or “egg freezing.” The study is designed to validate the published results and work dealing with the Extend Fertility method of oocyte cryopreservation – particularly related to a fertile women population. In addition to sponsoring the study, Extend Fertility is also supplying the clinics with exclusive access to training, protocols and the egg freezing culture media. As part of the overall study, RMA of NY and Extend Fertility are announcing initial results in this unique collaboration.

• The RMA team has achieved three out of four pregnancies (75 percent pregnancy success rate) using frozen eggs from fertile egg donors.
• This represents a 26 percent implantation success rate, i.e. approximately one out of every four embryos implanted.
• A total of 79 eggs from four donors were frozen. 68 eggs survived the freezing and thawing process (86.1 percent survival) and 61 of the remaining eggs successfully fertilized (89.7 percent fertilization).

"While egg freezing is still considered investigational, these pregnancies and success rates bring us one step closer to changing the perception of egg freezing from that of an "on the edge" technology to a practical and mainstream procedure for women that want to preserve their ability to have a future family," said Dr. Alan Copperman, Director of Reproductive Endocrinology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. "To date, these are some of the most encouraging success rates on record and we are confident that this kind of success can be replicated at other Extend sites. It is also important to note that these results show that this treatment can be particularly successful for fertile women." The study participants achieved pregnancy following the retrieval of donor eggs from a fertile woman, and the eggs' cryopreservation, thawing and fertilization. Prior to beginning work with the human oocytes (human eggs), the RMA of New York team conducted extensive studies on mouse oocytes to perfect their technique. "We are now confident in our ability to work with the medium and cryopreservation procedure to achieve continued success. We are ready to begin offering this investigational service to a wider range of women, including those looking to preserve their fertility for the future," continued Dr Copperman. "This is truly a groundbreaking development for reproductive technology. In the past, women who wanted to get pregnant later in life were faced with egg quality issues. Now they have the option of extending their fertility by preserving their eggs when they are of the best quality," said Christy Jones, founder and CEO, Extend Fertility. "At Extend Fertility, we are committed to the development of egg freezing and are confident that we will continue to generate strong pregnancy success rates at RMA of NY and other Extend Fertility partner centers across the country." The ongoing study will be conducted at up to eight Extend Fertility-affiliated centers throughout the U.S., under standard Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight. In all, about 40 participants are expected to participate. Extend Fertility is uniquely positioned to sponsor a study of this kind given the company's focus on developing relationships with some of the leading fertility centers and specialists in the country. This network of thought-leaders and experts allows Extend Fertility to ensure a consistent quality of service while driving research and development around oocyte cryopreservation. Complete results and findings will be published following the completion of the multi-site study in 2006. MediCult and Biogenics are also supporting the study by donating product and cryopreservation equipment directly to participating centers.