Egg Freezing: A Revolution for Family Building

Almost since the inception of in vitro fertilization (IVF), the successful freezing of egg cells (oocytes) has been a goal of reproductive biologists. The oocyte is a large, delicate cell and, until recently, it stubbornly resisted all attempts to develop a reliable freezing method.

In the last 5 years, however, a new procedure called vitrification overcame all these problems, turning egg freezing into a routine procedure. Vitrification makes it possible to put oocytes in storage indefinitely, and yet also be able to create high quality embryos at the time of thaw. We now can bank high-quality oocytes from young donors in much the same way sperm has been banked for decades

PFC is extremely pleased to now offer our patients a bank of high-quality oocytes from young donors. The Pacific Fertility Egg Bank (PFEB) provides the following opportunities:

• Oocytes are readily available from a variety of donors.
• All donor information is available online, giving recipients choice and flexibility in choosing a donor
• Our lab's procedures have been streamlined, allowing us to provide patients with high-quality embryos, which we hope will allow them to complete their families.

At PFC, we continually strive to improve our procedures and services. The addition of the Pacific Fertility Egg Bank is a major innovative development that we believe will benefit a great number of patients, and provide a new option for family building. We are continuously involved in the forefront of scientific endeavors, and the opening of the PFEB is an affirmation of our commitment to our patients.

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