Safeguarding fertility

When you are facing a difficult diagnosis or facing treatment that may affect your fertility, many concerns arise. The most important of these concerns future parenthood. Safeguarding fertility are state-of-the-art medical interventions aimed at taking care of the possibility of having children in the future.

Thanks to measures such as freezing of ova, embryos or sperm, you can undertake treatment with the feeling that you have taken care of your chance of parenthood when you are ready or willing. At Invimed, we help patients preserve their fertility with their future, peace of mind and dreams in mind.

What is fertility preservation?

Safeguarding fertility (English. fertility preservation) are medical procedures that make it possible to safeguard the possibility of having children in the future for people who are at risk of having their ability to become pregnant or have biological offspring permanently impaired by treatment or illness.

This is most often the case when a patient or patient is about to start e.g. chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery or other treatment that can damage reproductive cells.

What is fertility preservation about?

Depending on gender and health situation, fertility preservation may include:

In women:

• Freezing of ova (oocytes) - the most common method; it involves retrieving and freezing eggs that can be fertilised in the future.
• Embryo freezing - The eggs are fertilised with the sperm of the partner or donor and the resulting embryos are stored.
• Freezing an ovarian fragment - a less commonly used method involving the collection and storage of ovarian tissue containing ova.

In men:

• Freezing of semen - the simplest and most commonly used method.
• Freezing of testicular tissue - if semen collection is not possible.

Most common indications for fertility preservation

• Before oncological treatment (oncoplasticity)

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be like a massive earthquake for female and male fertility. That is why it is now standard practice to safeguard fertility before treatment so that, after recovery, there is still a chance of motherhood or fatherhood.

Currently, the government programme provides full funding for the collection and freezing of gametes and their storage for oncology patients. You can read more about oncoplasticity here

• When you are struggling with illnesses that can impair fertility

Endometriosis - can reduce the quality and number of oocytes and cause adhesions that make pregnancy difficult. In many cases, earlier oocyte preservation, especially before endometrial cyst surgery or with rapidly worsening symptoms, helps to protect ovarian reserve. PTGiP recommends caution against treatments that may further reduce it.

Premature extinction of ovarian function (POI) - is a condition causing permanent and irreversible loss of fertility (according to current medical knowledge). In such cases, postponing the decision to secure fertility is associated with a significant deterioration in the effectiveness of the process.

Autoimmune and genetic diseases - There are a number of diseases that have a proven impact on reducing our fertility. You can read more about them here.

• Genital surgical procedures

Operations on the reproductive organs of men and women can significantly affect the possibility of having children in the future.

Why is fertility preservation so important?

These procedures will enable the patient or patient to make an informed decision about parenthood in the future. Even if the treatment results in infertility, the stored cells or tissues may make it possible to have a biological child.

• Health or life-saving treatment can irreversibly damage fertility.
• The decision to hedge often has to be made fast, prior to the start of therapy.
• This is a way to preserve empowerment and hope, which are extremely important during a difficult time of illness.

What the step-by-step process looks like

In women:

• Qualification and pre-testing
• Hormonal preparation (hormone stimulation)
• Oocyte retrieval
• Freezing (vitrification) of oocytes

The whole process takes between 10 and 14 days.

In men:

• Qualification and pre-testing
• Semen donation
• Sperm freezing

The whole process can be completed within a few hours.