MILLBURN, N.J., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- A woman previously unable to sustain pregnancy now looks forward to giving birth next summer after taking part in a pilot study using an advanced donor egg cryopreservation (freezing) at Diamond Institute of Millburn, New Jersey. According to the Institute's study investigators, this achievement gives hope to a new subset of patients and couples, including women cancer patients and those waiting until after their twenties to start a family, who are facing infertility.

"In the past, sperm and embryo cryopreservation proved successful while egg cryopreservation has been widely unsuccessful. Unlike sperm, eggs are much larger cells with more fluid content. In the egg freezing process, the fluid allows formation of ice crystals that affect cell quality," said Matan Yemini, M.D., co-director, Diamond Institute. "With this new advanced egg freezing technique, the eggs undergo a quick-freeze rather than a slow-freeze, which reduces ice crystal formation within the egg, resulting in less damage and a higher rate of thawed egg survival for later fertilization."

"It is common practice for men to freeze sperm when faced with a life-changing illness, such as testicular cancer or other malignancies requiring chemotherapy that can affect fertility," added Arie Birkenfeld, M.D., co-director, Diamond Institute. "The same option has not always been open to women. This new technique now allows women to freeze their eggs in hopes of achieving pregnancy at a later time."

Eight patients -- four donors and four recipients -- have been enrolled in the study to date. Following donor egg retrieval, the eggs are first frozen and later thawed and fertilized with the recipient's partner's sperm to create embryos that are then transferred back to the recipient (in vitro fertilization (IVF)). Of the first three completed cycles, pregnancy was achieved in one out of the three patients, compared to fresh egg donation, which achieves pregnancy in approximately one out of two patients.

"This is a remarkable start, considering that the current worldwide pregnancy rate using frozen eggs is significantly lower," added Jesse J. Hade, M.D., study director, Diamond Institute. "This new procedure, cryoloop vitrification, increases the chance of successful pregnancy from frozen eggs, offering new hope to women who have previously been told they had a minimal chance of conceiving. However, the study is in its beginning phases and requires additional patient participation to provide further data."

The perfection and utilization of this new technique followed the Institute's several-year joint effort with Hiroshima, Japan's, HART Clinic. Tetsunori Mukaida, M.D., former chief embryologist at the Institute, worked under the direction of Katsuhiko Takahashi, M.D., while consulting with the Institute, including IVF laboratory director Mun Chan, M.D., and a separate team in Belgium. To date, there are only a few other documented U.S. pregnancies from egg freezing using this method.

Diamond Institute has been assisting patients in reproduction for 35 years throughout the tri-state area and from varied U.S. and international locations. A team, including award-winning physicians, embryologists, nurses, mental health professionals and support staff, has guided thousands of couples toward successful pregnancies and has addressed infertility issues through the most advanced treatments available. Diamond Institute is an approved member of and reports to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SART) and is active in RESOLVE. Arie Birkenfeld, M.D., Jesse J. Hade, M.D. and Matan, Yemini, M.D., participate in research and academic seminars and have published extensively.