EMBRYO FREEZING (CRYOPRESERVATION)

The embryo freezing process takes several hours. Embryos are treated with a special solution, called the cryoprotectant, which protects the embryos during the freezing process. Each embryo is then drawn into a specially designed sterile straw that is labeled with the patient's name. The straws containing the embryos are placed into a freezing machine, slowly cooled to -35 C and stored in liquid nitrogen for long-term storage (-196 C)

Generally, between 2 to 4 embryos are sufficient to achieve pregnancy. If the embryos are of good quality, the remaining embryos can be frozen and used for a later attempt to achieve pregnancy.