This year has marked the arrival of scores of babies conceived using City Fertility Centre’s new rapid-freezing embryo program.
City Fertility Centre scientific director Adnan Catakovic said the new vitrification process, or “rapid freezing”, worked 7000 times faster than slow freezing and had resulted in a dramatic increase in pregnancy rates.
“Since introducing rapid freezing, City Fertility Centre has increased embryo survival rates from 60-70% (slow freezing) to 80-90% (rapid freezing) and pregnancy rates have improved from 30% (slow freezing) to 40-50% (rapid freezing),” Mr Catakovic said.
The results at City Fertility Centre were exceptional when compared with internationally published data on rapid-frozen blastocyst embryos, Mr Catakovic said.
“Rapid freezing, or vitrification, greatly reduces the risk of rupturing or damage to the embryo as there is no chance for ice to form within the cell,” he said.
City Fertility Gold Coast clinical director Dr Andrew Davidson said the new technology had the potential to reduce the impact of IVF on patients.
“Freezing embryos helps reduce the discomfort of IVF and offers multiple chances to become pregnant,” Dr Davidson said.
“These results show that rapid-frozen blastocyst embryos have better survival rates post thawing and, most importantly, are delivering higher pregnancy rates than traditional methods.”
QUICK FACTS
- Rapid freezing is producing better outcomes – bringing patients closer to their dream of taking home a baby.
- Vitrification is new IVF technology that City Fertility Centre has successfully adapted into a rapid-freezing program. It is now available for embryos and eggs stored at the company’s clinics in Brisbane, on the Gold Coast and in Melbourne.
- The Gold Coast clinic has been open since 2005, with recent expansions in Robina and Benowa.
For more information, please contact CFC Gold Coast on 1300 859 116 or the CFC clinic closest to you.
