Many individuals or couples going through fertility treatment cycle may have additional good quality fertilised embryos which can be frozen for use at a later date. These embryos will be frozen at an extremely low temperature, which ensures they do not deteriorate over the number of years they are stored.
When you decide to try for more children using one or more of these frozen embryos, following a consultation, your Fertility Consultant will prescribe specific medications to prepare the womb to receive these embryos. This is a more straight forward process as there is no need to use hormone injections to stimulate the ovaries for egg collection.
An ultrasound scan is performed to assess the lining of the womb/uterus to determine whether it is ready to receive the embryo(s). Once the lining is ready, an agreed number of embryos are thawed and transferred – a process called frozen embryo transfer.
Frozen embryo transfer success rates are generally comparable to those of IVF treatment with fresh embryos. Please note, as with all fertility treatments, there is never a guarantee of success and often it depends on a range of individual factors. Your consultant will be able to discuss these with you during your consultation.