Egg Freezing for Fertility Preservation Developed at Bryn Mawr

Friday, November 28, 2008

Woman pregnant as result of new technology 

BRYN MAWR, Pa. (November 2008)—Main Line Fertility & Reproductive Medicine, located at Bryn Mawr Hospital, has developed the technology to freeze a woman’s eggs and preserve her fertility. Only a handful of centers in the United States offer a similar procedure resulting in fewer than 50 births to date. Worldwide, about 800 babies have been born from frozen eggs, according to Michael Glassner, MD, medical director of Main Line Fertility.

“The idea of freezing eggs has been the talk of everyone’s research for decades, and now we can offer this revolutionary service to Philadelphia area women,” he explained. One of his patients is pregnant following egg freezing and will deliver in July 2009. Dr. Glassner said this is the first time in the immediate tri-state area (PA-DE-NJ) that eggs frozen at a local site resulted in a pregnancy. 

The freezing technique, known as vitrification, rapidly freezes a woman’s unfertilized mature eggs after they have been removed from her ovaries. Eggs can be preserved indefinitely and thawed at a later date for fertilization and embryo transfer, according to Tyl Taylor, senior embryologist at Main Line Fertility.

This method has dramatic implications to help women in a variety of circumstances.   Women who have undergone cancer treatment may have difficulty conceiving. “For young women diagnosed with cancer, egg freezing offers hope for their future; they can undergo successful treatment for their disease and look forward to one day becoming mothers,” said Dr. John Orris, partner of Main Line Fertility.

For years, Main Line Fertility has had a rewarding working relationship with The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to provide sperm-freezing for teenagers prior to treatment for cancer that might affect their fertility. “Imagine being the parent of a teenage girl facing cancer treatment. You worry whether she will survive, then you’re told the treatment will cause her to become sterile,” said Dr. Glassner. “I am ecstatic that young women and teenage girls now have the opportunity to preserve their ovarian function.”
 
In addition to cancer patients, he noted that egg freezing is an option for women who want to delay childbearing for professional reasons, women who don’t have a partner, and couples with moral, ethical, or religious concerns about freezing embryos.

The first birth from egg freezing occurred about ten years ago but progress was stalled until recently, largely because the slow-freezing method resulted in much lower egg survivability following freezing and thawing.           

The vitrification protocol developed at Main Line Fertility freezes the egg much quicker resulting in higher egg survival. Survival rates cited in vitrification research are around 85 percent. “With this freezing technology, we’re achieving the same results as we do with a fresh egg,” said Susan Hallowell, laboratory manager.
                   
“When you consider that the concepts of sperm freezing has been around for 200 years and embryo freezing for a couple of decades, freezing of eggs completes the whole reproductive medicine picture,” said Dr. William Pfeffer, founding partner of Main Line Fertility.

While Dr. Pfeffer, Dr. Glassner, Dr. Orris, and colleagues worked tirelessly this past year on perfecting its technique, they say there is nothing proprietary about the concept of vitrification and they encourage other fertility centers to take steps to establish egg freezing programs so that more women can benefit.

Dr. Glassner said it took an investment of about $200,000 to start the program at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Services are being donated to the woman who is pregnant and to 10 other women waiting to have their eggs retrieved by the end of the year. The program is conducting a study which is approved by the Western Institutional Review Board to further evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure.

The cost of egg freezing hasn’t been established, according to Dr. Glassner, but he noted that Main Line Fertility offers a 50 percent fee reduction for any of its services to cancer patients. Main Line Fertility is also affiliated with Fertile Hope, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping cancer patients and survivors whose medical treatments present the risk of infertility.

Main Line Fertility has offices in West Chester, Paoli, and Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

To contact Main Line Fertility, call 610-527-0800.  

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About Bryn Mawr Hospital
130 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
484-337-3000
www.mainlinehealth.org

Established in 1893, Bryn Mawr Hospital is a 300-bed licensed non-profit acute-care teaching hospital. The Hospital’s orthopedic program, nationally recognized as a leader in total joint replacement, also offers expertise in cartilage restoration, sports medicine, osteoporosis, and treatment for hand, wrist, elbow, foot and ankle conditions. The Hospital offers a full range of cardiovascular care including cardiac surgery, cardiac catheterization and interventional services. Its Radiation Oncology Center provides the latest options in radiation therapy for treating cancer and participates in clinical research through a Community Clinical Oncology Program designation by the National Cancer Institute. Bryn Mawr Hospital is among the most experienced in the region in prostatectomy using the da Vinci®STM Surgical System’s robotic technology. 

Other specialized departments include: a Comprehensive Breast Center; an inpatient pediatric unit with the expertise of Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children specialists and surgeons offered through the Bryn Mawr/duPont Children’s Health Program; a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; a Center for Reproductive Medicine; a Wound Healing Center, a Behavioral Health Unit, and Sleep Medicine Services. In July 2007, Bryn Mawr opened its new Bryn Mawr Hospital Health Center in Newtown Square. Bryn Mawr Hospital and its programs have been nationally recognized by HealthGrades, Press Ganey, Solucient and other healthcare ratings organizations.

Contact
Frieda Schmidt
484-337-8298
schmidtf@mlhs.org 

Related Links

• Bryn Mawr Hospital