Perhaps you’ve been trying to get pregnant for some time without success. Or maybe you are facing medical issues that could put your chance of having children at risk. Fertility issues can be extremely difficult. Expert care can make the difference in successfully treating common problems and being able to provide breakthrough treatments and discoveries in the field.
Physicians practicing at Women’s Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center were responsible for the first birth from frozen eggs in the state of Texas. On May 28, 2010, a family in the Houston community had healthy twins, born as a result of in vitro fertilization from previously frozen eggs.
Patients may become sterile after chemotherapy or radiation. By freezing a woman’s eggs before treatment, she maintains the ability to have children in the future.
Using frozen eggs may also benefit women who desire to have children later in life. As women age, the quality of their eggs deteriorates, greatly reducing the chance for a successful pregnancy.
Another service offered is comprehensive chromosomal screening (CCS). This rare screening involves taking a biopsy of embryos before selecting which ones to transfer during the in vitro fertilization process. Once biopsied, all 23 pairs of chromosomes are examined to detect any abnormalities.
Some embryos have abnormalities that are incompatible with life and cause spontaneous miscarriage. CCS allows us to choose the ones that are most likely to result in normal pregnancies, reducing the chance for multiple miscarriages.
In the future, the screening may also detect specific genes linked to inherited conditions, such as cystic fibrosis or muscular dystrophy.