Oncofertility Preservation

For women, the process begins with taking fertility medications (including injections) to encourage your ovaries to release more than one egg at a time.

This is called ovarian stimulation and can help your body increase the number of mature eggs ready to be fertilized, giving you the best chance at growing your family in the future.

To retrieve your eggs, you will be sedated as your physician uses a special transvaginal ultrasound probe equipped with a needle guide into each ovary to harvest (carefully remove) your eggs. This is a 15-20 minute procedure.

After they are retrieved, your eggs will be carefully assessed by an embryologist for quality and maturity. Your eggs will then be frozen (using a rapid freezing method called vitrification) or mixed with sperm to create embryos (a process known as in vitro fertilization).

When you are ready to expand your family in the future, those eggs or embryos will be thawed for use. Once your eggs or embryos are frozen, they can last indefinitely.

For men, the process is much simpler - all that is needed is a sperm sample that can be cryopreserved for future use. Chemotherapy and radiation can permanently damage a man’s ability to make sperm. Some men regain the ability to make sperm in the years following their cancer treatments, but many never do.

Because of this, it is critical to cryopreserve (freeze) sperm prior to initiating any treatments. This process can happen very quickly, even on weekends, when timing is critical.

Many states have passed laws mandating insurance companies to cover the costs of fertility preservation procedures for both men and women. Connecticut was the very first state in the country to pass “Melissa’s Law,” and we are very proud at Illume Fertility to have had a hand in getting this legislation off the ground. New York became the sixth state, with its new mandate going into effect in 2020.

Even if you do not have any insurance, or your specific policy somehow circumvents these laws, there are many resources for both men and women with cancer to help with affording fertility preservation procedures. Livestrong Fertile Hope is a non-profit organization that provides free medications and financial support that many fertility centers, including Illume Fertility, work closely with.

If you are considering oncofertility preservation, please notify us before your initial consultation so we can connect you with resources for support and assistance.

Fertility preservation can be done within days for men and within weeks for women. Fertility preservation is done in conjunction with the patient’s cancer treatment schedule and with the clearance and collaboration of their oncologist.

There are three main options for patients diagnosed with cancer:

• Egg freezing: With this option, women can preserve their future fertility while also maintaining their reproductive autonomy. This gives women who are not in a committed relationship at the time of egg freezing the ability to fertilize them with any sperm source in the future.
• Embryo freezing: If a woman is in a relationship with a male partner, she can freeze embryos using her partner’s sperm.
• Hormone management: By taking hormone suppression medications during chemotherapy, you may be able to protect your egg supply. However, this option is not foolproof, and results can vary drastically, whereas egg and embryo freezing offer a much stronger, more reliable form of fertility preservation for cancer patients.

Our award-winning laboratories are staffed with highly-trained professionals who maintain the highest level of quality assurance.

Here's how:

• We have 36 liquid nitrogen tanks on-site which currently store 25,000+ frozen samples.
• As a part of our daily quality check, we inspect the level of liquid nitrogen in our storage tanks. At least once a week, we fill tanks to the top level.
• Liquid nitrogen is delivered twice a week to ensure we have the amount we need to keep tanks at the correct levels that are suitable for storage.
• We have a state-of-the-art alarm system attached to each of our tanks. In the event of an emergency when the lab is closed, the alarm alerts our staff remotely, and a trained staff member will respond to the laboratory at any hour.
• All alarm systems are connected to a backup power source. This ensures that the alarm will not be shut off in the event of a power outage.
• Most importantly, our embryology staff is on-site weekdays, weekends, and holidays, which allows us to monitor and confirm that all lab equipment is functioning properly.

Illume Fertility takes great pride in caring for you and offering the best oncofertility preservation options possible. We want you to feel reassured during this difficult time that you are in the best hands.