Thirteen children have been born to couples using frozen eggs in a development that could extend women’s reproductive life, scientists reported yesterday. Italian researchers who froze 737 eggs from 68 couples say the high number of births gives them hope that a breakthrough in the treatment may be only a few years away. Only 37 per cent of the eggs survived the freezing and thawing process but the researchers from Tecnobios Procreazione in Bologna say they hope to achieve a 75 to 85 per cent survival rate by altering the medium in which the egg is stored. Egg freezing has been pursued by fertility experts for more than a decade because it would allow women to store eggs in their twenties and start a family in their forties. It is more difficult than freezing embryos, because eggs are more vulnerable, but the first pregnancy from a frozen unfertilised egg was achieved in 1986. Doctors have struggled since to perfect the technique. Dr Giovanni Coticchio, who led the Italian study, said a 37 per cent survival rate for the eggs was not good enough. But he added that the technique had the potential to revolutionise IVF treatment.
