Embryo freezing

Yes, this is a service we’re able to provide. Egg and/or embryo freezing and storage is available at our full-service clinics in Cambridge, Norwich and Wickford.

Egg freezing can offer you a way to preserve your eggs if you are facing medical treatment that could compromise your future fertility, or you are not ready to become pregnant just now but wish to bank some of your eggs for future use. A cycle of egg freezing involves the same treatment as for conventional IVF, except the eggs are not fertilised or transferred. The eggs that are mature enough for this process are frozen on the same day as your egg collection.

When fresh embryos are transferred during an IVF cycle, any additional embryos created – but not transferred – are often frozen. However, what we mean here is a specific treatment that involves entering an IVF cycle with the express intention of freezing all the resulting embryos. Fertility patients will now be able to store their frozen embryos, sperm and eggs for up to 55 years following a change in the law (1 July 2022). Previously storage was for just ten years.

The cost of fertility preservation treatment varies. More information can be found on our fees and funding page or via our fee calculator.

Often with a frozen cycle, Buserelin is recommended before starting the oestrogen tablets, and for a little while afterwards. Your nurse coordinator will let you know what’s recommended for your treatment. If you have any other concerns, just get in touch with the nurse coordinators at your IVF fertility clinic – they’ll be happy to talk you through any of your symptoms or answer any questions.

This depends on the stage of your embryos (when they were frozen) and on how many embryos you wish to be transferred. If you have cleaved embryos (frozen on day two or day three) or blastocysts (frozen on day five or day six), then we will thaw your embryos until there are enough surviving to meet the required amount for transfer.

If your embryos were frozen at the pronucleate stage (frozen on day one), then we will continue to thaw them until we have double the number that you need for transfer. For example, if you want two embryos transferred, we will thaw embryos until we have four surviving. This is because this stage of embryo still has to divide and, hopefully, it will allow you to have two good-quality embryos available for transfer.
Not all embryos or blastocysts will survive the freezing and thawing procedure, however. Our current thawing survival rate is approximately 80%.

We recommend that we thaw all your frozen embryos, as it is likely that some of them will not survive the procedure. The more embryos you have available for culture after thawing, the more likely it is that you will have some good-quality blastocysts at the time of transfer.

Approximately 60% of all embryos in extended culture in our laboratory will successfully reach the blastocyst stage. However, not all of the blastocysts will be of top quality.

For an embryo or blastocyst to have a realistic chance of surviving the freezing and thawing procedures, it must have developed to the right stage and be of suitable quality. Some embryos won’t make it to the correct stage of development, or they may be of substandard quality, which is why we might not be able to freeze them.