Pioneering IVF Technique Produces Region's First...( Reproductive...)

Reproductive Associates of Delaware (RAD) Team Uses Frozen Donated Eggs, Opening Doors for New Fertility Treatments

Newark, DE (PRWEB) August 10, 2008 -- A patient of Reproductive Associates of Delaware (RAD) is in the second trimester of a healthy pregnancy, following the region's first successful use of thawed, frozen donated eggs.

In May, frozen donor eggs were shipped to the Delaware-based infertility clinic. Soon after, the eggs were successfully thawed and fertilized. An ongoing pregnancy occurred following the first attempt at transferring the embryos to the patient's uterus.

Dr. Ronald F. Feinberg, IVF Medical Director at RAD, notes that the availability of frozen eggs has opened a new era in fertility care, with new options for women. "Frozen sperm banks have been available for over thirty years. Egg freezing and thawing has been much more technically challenging. Nevertheless, research has progressed and various options for egg freezing and banking have now arrived."

"Frozen eggs offer women options in deciding when they wish to conceive, whether with their own eggs or with donor eggs," notes Dr. Barbara A. McGuirk, Medical Director for Reproductive Surgery at RAD. "Some women have diseases such as cancer earlier in life, and must delay childbearing. In addition, cancer treatments can destroy eggs. Around the world, many women have chosen to bank their eggs and/or ovarian tissue for future use. Others have opted to use donor eggs."

Women's aging has particularly negative effects on their eggs. RAD clinicians care for hundreds of women each year who have this problem. "Many of our patients who use donor eggs are only in their thirties," notes Dr. Feinberg. "They are often upset because no one informed them previously that ovarian aging is a serious and common problem."

Dr. McGuirk
'/>"/>