subject: Oocyte Cryopreservation: Keeping The Ability To Conceive And Give Birth Alive [print this page] For many women, motherhood is the most wonderful thing in the world. The ability to bring a new life into the world is a privilege and an honor that only women have. To carry an unborn child in a mothers womb for nine months, and the fact that pregnant women endures a great amount of physical pain during childbirth, is a testament to how strong and how dedicated women can be. While most women are able to conceive, give birth to, and care for their children, others are not so lucky.
Infertility is a longstanding reproductive health problem that many men and women today suffer from. For many, the inability to contribute to the conception and eventual fertilization of human embryo can be both a physical and psychological dilemma. Some cultures view infertility as a curse, or a punishment from some god of deity. Thus, those members of the society whom they have identified to be infertile or incapable of conception are shunned and condemned to a life of isolation. Infertility can be brought on by any number of reasons, such as genetics, general health, and various environmental factors, which is why modern medical science is working on finding ways to preserve, if not develop, the ability to conceive.
One of the ways in which a womans fertility as well as her ability to conceive is preserved today is through oocyte cryopreservation. Oocyte cryopreservation is a method in which the females egg cells are stimulated and extracted, and then collected and preserved cryogenically, which means they are kept in extremely low temperatures to a point that the egg cells freeze in a kind of stasis. Doctors at Santa Monica Fertility in southern California have been using this technique to preserve healthy egg cells for future use. Headed by lead physician Dr. John Jain, Santa Monica has been helping women preserve their ability to bring life into the world, especially women who have been diagnosed with cancer but have not gone through chemotherapy yet. Dr. Jain helps preserve these womens healthy egg cells that would otherwise have been destroyed by chemotherapy.
