Fertility Associates of Memphis responds to Bloomberg Businessweek article on egg freezing technology

Memphis, Tenn. – The April 17th cover story in Bloomberg Businessweek discusses how new egg freezing technology enables women to pause their biological clock, easing their career-family angst. Not since the birth control pill has a medical technology had such potential to change family and career planning, the article states.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics Report, the number of women having babies between the ages of 35 and 39 has increased 150 percent since the 1970s. What hasn’t changed is biology.

Dr. William Kutteh, director of Fertility Associates of Memphis, explained, “A woman is born with all of the eggs that she will have for her lifetime – but egg quantity and quality go down with time, steeply declining after the age of 35. After 35, eggs tend to become somewhat genetically unstable, which can lead to problems achieving and maintaining pregnancy.”

Kutteh said that freezing eggs stops the biological clock from ticking, so it makes sense for many patients to pursue when they are young, don’t plan to get pregnant in the near future, and want to preserve their fertility. If eggs are successfully frozen and thawed, that gives a woman about a 1-in-5 chance of a live birth, depending on her age when she froze and other factors – about the same odds as a regular in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle.

Fertility Associates of Memphis began freezing eggs in 2011 using advanced vitrification technology, and in 2012, marked its first frozen oocyte baby born. For more information about egg freezing and vitrification technology at Fertility Associates of Memphis, please visit online at fertilitymemphis.com.