Launch of ‘Egg Banking’ Program Breaks New Ground as First Program of its Kind in North Carolina

REACH initiates egg-freezing program for medical and non-medical reasons, offering new options for delayed parenting, patients conflicted over morality of unused embryos.

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – The Reproductive Endocrinology Associates of Charlotte (REACH) announced a new program allowing women to freeze and store unfertilized eggs at REACH for medical and non-medical reasons. REACH is the only in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic in the region to offer such a program.

Until recently, egg freezing has been largely reserved for women undergoing cancer treatment. Such patients set aside their eggs in hopes of preserving post-recovery fertility options.

Now, all qualifying women can postpone pregnancy for a variety of personal reasons: career demands, lack of a partner, and, for many, religious or spiritual dilemmas.

A study presented at the annual American Society of Reproductive Medicine conference in October, which looked into the motivations of women choosing to freeze their eggs for social reasons, showed that 40 percent were prepared to be single mothers using their frozen eggs. Just 20 percent of the women in the study said they would not consider having them fertilized with donor sperm, if they failed to find a suitable partner in time. And in September, experts at a British Fertility Society conference recommended women over 35 consider freezing their eggs.

In IVF treatments, doctors typically induce ovulation in a patient, retrieve several dozen mature eggs, and then fertilize a number of them in hopes of creating one or two embryos healthy enough to grow three to five days in the laboratory and eventually yield a successful pregnancy. Among patients considering IVF, doctors say that a chief hesitation stems from the predicament of creating leftover embryos that must be destroyed, donated for research or adoption, or consigned indefinitely to frozen storage.

Traditionally, embryos survive freezing or “cryopreservation” much better than eggs. But traditional cryopreservation often forms crystals on eggs during the freezing process, which can damage eggs and make them less viable in the future. The new program at REACH uses a vitrification process that protects eggs much better than cryopreservation.

When eggs can be frozen and thawed successfully, doctors can create a much smaller number of embryos on an as-needed basis, going back to storage for more later rather than putting a patient through the time, expense and physical and emotional strain of additional egg retrievals. Frozen eggs have provided a 40 percent pregnancy rate.

REACH will accept medically suitable patients in its program for the most part regardless of their personal reasons for participation, said REACH Embryology Lab Director Tony Anderson. REACH is “the only cryopreservation provider in the Carolinas, and one of only three or four practices in the country with Institutional Review Board approval for these procedures,” he says.

“Many single women feel that the pressure to find a partner by their mid-30s is intense, so this option would allow them a chance of having their own biological children that they may not have if it took them another five years to find their perfect partner,” he adds.

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About Reproductive Endocrinology Associates of Charlotte (Reach)

REACH is led by a nationally recognized team of five physicians who offer comprehensive, state-of-the-art assistance for infertile couples and women with reproductive endocrine problems. REACH physicians, all long-time practitioners in Charlotte, are widely respected for their superior pregnancy success rates – one of the highest in the region -- and for the finest patient care. REACH is a member of IntegraMed, an exclusive network of fertility practices nationwide. For more information, visit www.REACHdrs.com.