Regarding freezing immature eggs: depending on the IVF protocol used, the clinic may not be able to see if an egg is mature or not before they attempt to fertilize it. This relates to whether or not they remove the cumulus cells surrounding the egg before adding the sperm. Cumulus cell removal is standard in ICSI procedures (where the sperm is mechanically injected into the egg), but if you’re not doing ICSI, the clinic may not be able to separate the immature GV eggs from the mature MII eggs.
So if you want to separate out the immature eggs and freeze them, and you’re not doing ICSI, you may need to ask the clinic to remove the cumulus cells a bit earlier.
Great post!
Regarding freezing immature eggs: depending on the IVF protocol used, the clinic may not be able to see if an egg is mature or not before they attempt to fertilize it. This relates to whether or not they remove the cumulus cells surrounding the egg before adding the sperm. Cumulus cell removal is standard in ICSI procedures (where the sperm is mechanically injected into the egg), but if you’re not doing ICSI, the clinic may not be able to separate the immature GV eggs from the mature MII eggs.
So if you want to separate out the immature eggs and freeze them, and you’re not doing ICSI, you may need to ask the clinic to remove the cumulus cells a bit earlier.