Doctors in Singapore have announced the birth of the world's first babies conceived using both frozen eggs and sperm. Dr Cheng Li Chang of the Thomson Medical Center said the birth of the healthy twins followed IVF using eggs and sperm from a couple who had medical complications on both sides: the mother required drug treatment to ovulate, and the father produced no sperm in his semen.
The team extracted a very small number of active sperm from the testicles of the father, and then had to inject each directly into the mother's eggs. After an initial attempt to fertilise non-frozen eggs failed, the doctors froze several eggs and sperm for future attempts. 'For women, this means they can preserve fertility, and it also gives hope to men who have very little sperm or none' said Cheng.
Although many babies have been conceived worldwide using frozen sperm, there have only been around 30 births from frozen eggs since the first success in Australia in 1986. One of the reasons that eggs, the largest of all human cells, are difficult to freeze successfully is that they contain a lot of water.
Sources and References
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First 'frozen' twins born
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First for frozen fertility therapy
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Singapore pioneers babies from frozen eggs, sperm
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