Oocyte banking: Does the period of storage affect ART outcomes?

Introduction: Oocyte cryopreservation may be a valuable alternative to preserve fertility. According to our knowledge, there are no descriptions about the effect of the time of storage on oocyte performance after thawing. The aim of our report is to evaluate if the period of oocyte storage impact ART outcomes. Materials: 124 eggs from 10 patients were thawed to perform an ICSI procedure. The oocytes were cryopreserved and thawed according to the protocol 1,2-propanediol-sucrose slow freeze-rapid thaw. Duration of storage, survival rate, fertilization rate, embryo cleavage rate, implantation rate and ongoing pregnancy rate were analyzed. Results: Survival rate was 39%, fertilization rate was 48%. cleavage rate was 83%. implantation rate 15.7% and pregnancy rate was 30%. Two out of the three pregnancies (66%) were from the longest stored eggs (? years storage). The third one had been stored for 3 months. Conclusions: Even when oocyte banking is a novel experience and there are still a low number of thawed cases. duration of storage seems to have no relation with the pregnancy outcome. This finding should encourage women who cannot bear children immediately to apply for oocyte storage. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.