Fast Track Program for Cancer Patients
Oocyte (egg) freezing is now available at Oregon Reproductive Medicine for women facing treatment for cancer who want to do what they can to improve their chances of preserving their fertility. This program is called Fast Track.
We know that a cancer diagnosis and having to make decisions about enhancing your chances of future fertility is a lot to deal with for you and your loved ones. Because of that we are committed to doing everything possible to make this process as straightforward and quick as possible. We want to assure you that you are in good hands; our physicians, nurses, embryologists and andrologist and all of our clerical and business staff want to offer you support as your go through this important process of doing whatever might help preserve your fertility.
Our program to freeze eggs is named Fast Track for a reason. We know time is of the essence. We understand that your goal is to move ahead with your cancer treatment without having to worry about issues surrounding your fertility.
To that end, our goals for our patients in Fast Track are:
- To discuss your options and candidacy for Fast Track with our Nurse Manager
- To complete all registration materials on a fast track basis.
- To put patients in touch with the Sharing Hope program at Fertile Hope for possible financial assistance.
-
To speak to our business office about costs at your earliest convenience.
-
To meet with a reproductive endocrinologist and a nurse clinician within 2 days (or sooner if you are just seeking a phone consultation) to fully understand all options of preserving fertility and to answer questions.
- For your oncologist and our physician to have a telephone conversation about appropriate treatment to preserve fertility.
If you have not called us to start the Fast Track process or would like more information about Fast Track call Andrea Speck-Zulak, RNC, today at 503-274-4994.
Remember that you do not have to be in this alone. At any point please do not hesitate to let us know you need some time to get your questions answered, to get more infomation about the procedure you are about to have or even if you just need a hand to hold.
At Oregon Reproductive Medicine you'll be in the right place.
Vitrification: Freezing Eggs and Embryos using the latest technology
Since the end of 2007 we have been preserving embryos for future use in a new way. The old method of slow freezing embryos involved exposing embryos to cryoprotectants for long periods of time (20 minutes) and then lowering the temperature of the cells very slowly so that ice crystal formation inside the cells was minimized. After thawing embryos frozen in this way the typical appearance of an embryo is unlike the fresh embryo in that many of the cells may have died.
The new method is called “vitrification”. Vitrification is a process of converting liquid into a glass-like solid that is free from any crystalline structure, by adding a very concentrated mixture of cryoprotectants and cooling extremely rapidly by plunging directly into liquid nitrogen. This process has been used for many years with other biological and chemical applications but has only recently been fine tuned for use on precious human embryos
February 2008 Update:
Here at Oregon Reproductive Medicine we have frozen embryos for over 100 patients using vitrification since the end of 2007. Most of these patients became pregnant during their fresh cycle and so we have to wait to see if their embryos will successfully thaw and give rise to healthy pregnancies. We have however completed 5 frozen embryo transfers using vitrified embryos and all of them have had positive pregnancy tests.
Vitrification can also successfully be applied to freezing eggs. Egg freezing may benefit young women who may wish to preserve their fertility for the future for social reasons, or for women who have to undergo radiation or chemotherapy treatment which may impact their future fertility potential.