The Fertility Center of Las Vegas

The Basics Of Medical Egg Freezing

Medical egg freezing provides hope after a breast cancer diagnosis

Medical egg freezing provides hope after a breast cancer diagnosis

Getting diagnosed with breast cancer can be shocking and scary. So many thoughts and questions rush through your mind when you hear the words, “You have breast cancer.” It’s almost as if time stops. However, you aren’t alone. From your oncologist to our Las Vegas fertility doctors, who are experts in medical egg freezing, you have a whole team ready to fight with you.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re discussing what you need to know about freezing your eggs in response to a breast cancer diagnosis. Our goal is to preserve your dream of a future family while you fight back against cancer.

What is medical egg freezing, and why is it important?

When a woman receives a cancer diagnosis, her oncologist will likely recommend treatments like chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. While these treatment options do save lives, they can also permanently damage female fertility. No woman wants to learn that saving her life will destroy her dream of motherhood. Thankfully, egg freezing provides hope.

Medical egg freezing allows women to preserve their healthy eggs before beginning cancer treatments. Sometimes, cancer patients even pursue egg freezing after beginning treatment. It all depends on what the results of fertility testing show.

Egg freezing itself is a relatively quick process that typically only takes a few weeks. You will take injectable fertility medications to stimulate egg development. Our Las Vegas fertility doctors will regularly monitor you with bloodwork and ultrasounds during this time.

Once your eggs are mature, you will take a final “trigger” shot of hCG to cause your ovaries to release the eggs (ovulate). Then, about 36 hours later, you’ll visit our clinic for an outpatient egg retrieval procedure. You can rest assured that you’ll receive sedation and pain medication to keep you comfortable during this procedure.

After you wake up in the recovery area, you’ll learn how many eggs your doctor was able to retrieve. During this time, skilled embryologists in the IVF lab will be preparing your eggs for flash-freezing (vitrification) and storage.

Your eggs can remain frozen for 10 years or longer. When you’re ready to use them for pregnancy, our embryologists will thaw them before fertilizing them with sperm from your partner or a sperm donor. Then, your doctor will transfer a resulting embryo into your uterus.

Supporting women during Breast Cancer Awareness Month and all year

If you have received a cancer diagnosis, we can quickly help you get started with medical egg freezing. Just contact or call our office and let us know that you have a cancer diagnosis and want to move forward with fertility preservation. We’ll get you an expedited appointment so that you can freeze your eggs and then focus on fighting cancer.

For More Information

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