Fertility preservation
Our fertility centre IVF Scotland, at Shawfair Park Hospital in Edinburgh, offers patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer a freezing and storage service for the preservation of sperm, egg and embryos. This service may be useful if a patient has not yet started or completed their family. A fee for this service can be independently arranged with IVF Scotland and our nurses can put you in touch with a member of staff who can discuss and arrange this with you.
Eggs
Egg freezing is one of the most promising treatment options in human female gamete preservation to emerge in recent years. The main advantage of freezing eggs is that the partner, or sperm donor, is not required at this stage so freezing may also be used to help preserve fertility in single women.
Embryos
If you have previously undergone fertility treatment and wish to preserve embryos for future treatment cycles following successful treatment for cancer, surplus good quality embryos may be frozen and stored at IVF Scotland for use in future IVF/ICSI cycles. Frozen-thawed embryos used in treatment have a lower viability rate than 'fresh' embryos; however the Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) is less invasive.
The standard storage period for eggs and embryos is 10 years from the date of freeze, up to a maximum of 55 years.
Sperm
Sperm can be stored at IVF Scotland for use in future fertility treatment prior to a patient undergoing treatment for cancer.
For more information about the storage of eggs, embryos and sperm, speak to your oncology nurse and they can arrange for you to be contacted by IVF Scotland.