Fresh vs. frozen

Fertility Specialist Kari Sproul, MD, explains the effects that freezing your sperm or eggs can have for conception in comparison to fresh ones
The Differences Between Fresh and Frozen Sperm & Eggs
KidsInTheHouse the Ultimate Parenting Resource
Kids in the House Tour

Fresh vs. frozen

Comment
59
Like
59
Transcription: 
So comparing fresh to frozen, whether we are comparing fresh sperm to frozen sperm or fresh embryos to frozen embryos or fresh eggs to frozen eggs, there are some differences. We think really with sperm that frozen sperm is pretty equivalent to fresh sperm. And this is why years ago people started making sperm banks where patients could donate their sperm or they could freeze their sperm for future use if they were undergoing cancer treatments. Because really the thought was that this frozen sperm when it was warmed to room temperature actually is pretty equivalent to fresh sperm. With embryos, we used to use a process to freeze embryos called slow freezing and we really thought that the embryos after they were warmed that it did not have as good success rates as compared to fresh embryos when looking at pregnancy and live birth rates. But nowadays we use a method to freeze called vitrification, which is a fast freezing method. And really we think now that pregnancy rates and live birth rates are almost the same using frozen embryos compared to fresh embryos. In the past, it used to be thought if we were doing a frozen embryo transfer, we should add on an extra embryo in order to keep the pregnancy rate the same as a fresh transfer. And now that recommendation no longer exists because we think it is almost equivalent. Eggs, it is a different story. Freezing eggs is a little bit more difficult. We recently have started freezing eggs using that fast freezing technology, and there are some studies that suggest that in younger donor eggs or in eggs of women under age 38 that the pregnancy rates and live bith rates may be equivalent to fresh eggs. But really there are only about 1,500 live births as a result of frozen eggs worldwide and so that still is in its infancy.
PREGNANCY, Fertility, Infertility

Fertility Specialist Kari Sproul, MD, explains the effects that freezing your sperm or eggs can have for conception in comparison to fresh ones

Transcript

Expert Bio

More from Expert

Kari Sproul, MD

Fertility Specialist

Kari Sproul is a Reproductive Endocrinologist and Infertility (REI) doctor in Los Angeles. She sees patients who have irregular menstrual cycles, as well as patients who are trying to conceive.  She is married and has a 20-month-old son.  In her spare time, she enjoys all outdoor activities.  She also loves to run and recently completed her first triathlon. 

More Parenting Videos from Kari Sproul, MD >
Enter your email to
download & subscribe
to our newsletter