Over 900 oocyte cryopreservation babies born with no apparent increase in congenital anomalies

Abstract

Over the past decade, the number of reported live births resulting from oocyte cryopreservation has rapidly increased. To appreciate the true number of children born, verified live births were tabulated and assessed. A literature search was performed; authors were then contacted to verify birth outcomes and provide updates. A database including all verified live born infants was constructed. A total of 58 reports (1986-2008) were reviewed, which included 609 live born babies (308 from slow freezing, 289 from vitrification and 12 from both methods). Additionally, 327 other live births were verified. Of the total 936 live borns, 1.3% (12) were noted to have birth anomalies: three ventricular septal defects, one choanal and one biliary atresia, one Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, one Arnold-Chiari syndrome, one cleft palate, three clubfoot and one skin haemangioma. Compared with congenital anomalies occurring in naturally conceived infants, no difference was noted. With more live born data accumulating, this procedure may become mainstream as a fertility preservation option, particularly for women diagnosed with malignancy requiring cytotoxic therapy. A registry would help to assure the safest, most expeditious development of this technology.

Accumulation of oocytes from a few modified natural cycles to improve IVF results: a pilot study

“…Thus, until recently, cryopreservation of human oocytes was defined as generally inefficient procedure and its application was restricted to the very special situations [29,[34][35][36][37]. The slow freezing remains widely used for oocyte storage but vitrification has progressively emerged as an alternative technique [29,33,[37][38][39][40][41]. This procedure limits the problem of cryoinjury by avoiding ice crystal formation and exerts a less detrimental effect on meiotic spindle [29,33,39,40,42].…”

Oocyte cryopreservation: is it time to remove its experimental label?

“…In 2007, SART reported an overall delivery rate per embryo transferred as 30.6% for autologous and 31.7% for donor oocytes in frozen/thawed embryos cycles (SART.org, 2007). Results from series of frozen oocytes (reviewed in ref [32]) compare favorably to these data, especially when one takes into account that in many oocyte thaw studies (those performed by the Italian groups) the number of oocytes that could be thawed and inseminated was limited to three, due to federal statute. If one looks at studies using frozen donor oocytes, the data are even more favorable, with ongoing pregnancy and delivery rates exceeding 50% in some reports [29,[33][34][35].…”

“…Chian et al [36] reported on 165 vitrified oocyte pregnancies totaling 200 infants born, and showed no difference in mean birth weight or incidence of congenital anomalies in children born from frozen oocytes vs. those from either spontaneous conception in fertile women, or in women conceiving through fresh IVF. Noyes et al [32] tabulated data from multiple centers around the world using either OC cryopreservation method and found that in 936 babies born from frozen oocytes, there was no apparent increase in the rate of congenital anomalies as compared to United States national statistics for natural conceptions as reported by the CDC. Continued worldwide reporting of healthy live born children from OC will reinforce this trend.…”

“…Work from several Italian groups (where oocyte cryopreservation has often been used because of legal restrictions on embryo cryopreservation) has been instrumental in establishing OC as a clinically valid procedure [30,31]. Importantly, the most recent and largest survey of OC outcomes indicates that there have now been almost 60 case and series reports in the literature demonstrating that OC is a viable reproductive technology [32]. As more successful outcome Financial Support: None Capsule As more reproductive-age women survive cancer, the need for fertility preservation is paramount.…”

Live birth after 6 years of oocyte vitrification in a survivor with breast cancer

“…Cryopreservation of mature oocytes using vitrification techniques to avoid ice crystal formation has become an effective method to store oocytes, which supports it usefulness for fertility preservation. The technique achieves pregnancy rates close to those of current IVF with fresh oocytes and no apparent increase in congenital abnormalities [11][12][13][14][15].…”