If you’ve decided to embark on egg donation treatment, one of the first decisions you'll face is whether to opt for fresh or frozen eggs – and it can feel like a tricky one. Read on for our complete guide to help you to make the choice that’s right for you.
What’s the difference between fresh and frozen donor eggs?
When researching the pros and cons of using fresh vs. frozen donor eggs for IVF, many assume using fresh donor eggs is a better option – that this is the route most likely to lead to a successful pregnancy. But it isn’t quite so clear cut as this.
According to a report by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates Britain’s fertility industry, the birth rate per treatment cycle from all cycles using frozen donor eggs was around 30% and was only marginally less than the birth rate for fresh donor eggs, which was 33% (based on stats from 2016).
And as the UK’s first and largest egg bank, with over 30 years of experience in donor egg IVF and egg freezing, London Egg Bank actually sees no significant difference in birth rates between fresh and frozen eggs at our clinic. That’s all thanks to the leading fertility experts we employ, who are at the forefront of egg fertility research, coupled with our sophisticated technology.
So, often, it’s worth considering other factors, too – for example the costs involved and the flexibility and convenience of each option – before arriving at a decision.
How do the processes differ between fresh and frozen donor eggs?
When an egg donor and recipient are undergoing a fresh cycle, they have their menstrual cycles synchronised. Once their cycles are synchronised, eggs are retrieved from the egg donor and fertilised with the intended sperm so that the fresh embryo can be implanted into the recipient’s womb, which has been prepared by hormone treatment for implantation. Alternatively, if synchronisation is not convenient, eggs can be retrieved from the donor, fertilised in the lab on the day of retrieval and any resulting embryos frozen for future use.
Frozen donor eggs, on the other hand, have already been retrieved from the donors and cryopreserved via a process called vitrification prior to fertilisation. This puts the eggs into a glass-like state and, once in this state, they can be stored at very low temperatures for years without losing quality. They are only thawed and fertilised to create embryos at the time they are to be used, and can be shipped to your chosen clinic.
What are the main advantages of using fresh donor eggs?
Though our expertise is high, there are always risks when freezing and thawing eggs, and it’s an unavoidable fact that not all frozen eggs survive the thaw. Thawing technology has come a long way, but eggs are far more fragile than embryos. So, for some, the idea of retrieving and fertilising eggs immediately – either to be transferred or to create embryos for freezing – and avoiding this process can be more appealing.
And, of course, if there are more eggs to play with, there are more opportunities to create embryos. This increases the chances of building a family with genetically-related siblings and gives recipients more potential for success. Our data shows us that the success of one individual embryo transfer is not significantly different between an embryo created with fresh eggs versus an embryo created with frozen eggs, but it is the fact that fresh eggs give the potential to create more embryos that means the cumulative rates are higher.
This also has a knock-on effect to the cost. If you’ve purchased a specific number of eggs from our frozen donor egg database and they don’t all survive the thaw, it can be very disappointing. For more on the fixed prices we offer for both frozen egg and fresh egg IVF, visit the costs section on our website.
What are the main advantages of using frozen donor eggs?
The fertilisation of frozen eggs is comparable with fresh eggs, and we're seeing 70-80% fertilisation rates, sometimes more. The number of embryos that we can create from these frozen eggs is also above 50% in most cases. And because of our expertise with frozen donor eggs, we also find that over 85% of our patients have extra embryos frozen to build their family.
We're hitting over 50% success in the last year for frozen embryo transfers with frozen eggs, too. This is one of the reasons that, in 99% of our cycles, we only put one embryo back to reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies.
Additionally, we’ve analysed live births from fresh and frozen eggs and have seen no difference. We've also looked at congenital abnormalities that were self-reported by the patient. While we can’t know of abnormalities that patients didn't report, we’ve looked at preterm births and any other implications that they might have had, and we couldn't see a difference when we compared fresh to frozen egg outcomes in our data.
The reliability of frozen donor eggs makes this an appealing option, too. You can avoid the stressful process of synchronising the donor’s cycle with your own, as well as the risk of a cancelled cycle due to poor donor response. In about 10% of cases, however well the cycle is managed, the donor may not respond as well as we hoped and the cycle has to be abandoned.
With frozen eggs, you also have immediate availability of eggs with a wide range of donors to choose from our extensive database. You can start treatment whenever you wish to, because the donor has already finished her part of the treatment and the collected eggs are ready to be used at any time.
Final thoughts
Whether you decide on fresh or frozen donor eggs is a very personal decision that will come down to a number of factors. But if you are still unsure which option is right for you, you can book in for an initial consultation with one of our doctors. They will also be able to put you in touch with one of our dedicated donor matching experts, who will spend time with you and get to understand your ideal donor preferences.