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Human Reproduction Update Advance Access originally published online on September 10, 2007
Human Reproduction Update 2007 13(6):591-605; doi:10.1093/humupd/dmm028
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Human oocyte cryopreservation

Debra A. Gook1,2,3 and David H. Edgar1,2

1 Reproductive Services/Melbourne IVF, Royal Women’s Hospital, 132 Grattan Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

3 Correspondence address. Tel: +61 3 9344 2354; Fax: +61 3 9349 1387; E-mail: debra.gook{at}rwh.org.au

The clinical role of oocyte cryopreservation in assisted reproduction, as an adjunct to sperm and embryo cryopreservation, has been comparatively slow to evolve as a consequence of theoretical concerns related to efficacy and safety. Basic biological studies in the 1990’s alleviated many of these concerns leading to more widespread adoption of the technology. While a number of babies were born from the approach validated in the 1990’s, its perceived clinical inefficiency led to the search for improved methods. Introduction of elevated dehydrating sucrose concentrations during cryopreservation increased survival and fertilization rates, but there is no well-controlled evidence of improved clinical outcome. Similarly, the use of sodium-depleted cryopreservation media has not been demonstrated to increase clinical efficiency. More recently, and in the absence of basic biological studies addresssing safety issues, the application of vitrification techniques to human oocytes has resulted in reports of a number of live births. The small number of babies born from clinical oocyte cryopreservation and the paucity of well-controlled studies currently preclude valid comparisons between approaches. Legal restrictions on the ability to select embryos from cryopreserved oocytes in Italy, where many of the available reports originate, also obscure attempts to assess oocyte cryopreservation objectively.

Key words: cryopreservation / human / oocyte

Received on April 23, 2007; revised June 25, 2007; accepted on August 6, 2007


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