What is the outcome and fate of frozen supernumerary embryos resulting from egg donation?

Abstract

Cryopreservation of supernumerary embryos affords patients the potential opportunity to achieve multiple pregnancies from a single fresh IVF cycle or to at least have a second chance at success if the first attempt failed. In addition, the availability of frozen embryos reduces overall patient cost and increases the cumulative odds of pregnancy per case. Embryo cryopreservation is of particular importance in oocyte donation cycles because the number of embryos available frequently exceeds that which is acceptable (or desirable) for embryo transfer. Furthermore, limited resources specific to oocyte donation, including donor availability and cost, augment the appeal of cryopreservation. Despite the desire to cryopreserve supernumerary embryos at the time of the fresh donor oocyte transfer, more often than not, patients do not return to use their surplus embryos. Analysts estimate that as of 2003, over 400,000 embryos from all sources remained in storage facilities in the United States. As the number of IVF procedures has only grown over the past decade, we speculate that this number has nearly doubled.