Achieving the “ideal” family size at advanced reproductive ages through oocyte cryopreservation

Excerpt

Women are increasingly delaying pregnancy, and in 2014 the mean age at first birth in the USA had risen from 25.2 years in 2000 to 26.3 years [1]. Despite advances in IVF technology, advanced reproductive age remains a significant impediment to success with a live birth rate of 3.6% per oocyte retrieval in women over 42 years [2]. Concurrent with the trend of delayed childbearing has been an increase in the use of donor oocytes [3] to overcome age-related fertility decline and diminished ovarian reserve. Oocyte cryopreservation (OC), no longer considered experimental for women with medical indications but widely utilized to defer reproduction, is allowing women to conceive using autologous oocytes at ages when donor oocytes would have previously been required. The success of the technology has been demonstrated as women increasingly return for oocyte thaw/warming and embryo transfer [4‐7]. …