Vitrification and the demise of fresh treatment cycles in ART
Scientific and Managing Director
Kamal Ahuja
Kamal Ahuja gained his PhD at Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Robert Edwards, which sparked his lasting interest in clinical IVF. The ethics of IVF and its cost effectiveness continue to be part of his research interests. Dr Ahuja is Chairman of Reproductive BioMedicine Online, an international medical journal, and the Scientific and Managing Director of the London Egg Bank.
Medical Director
Nick Macklon
Professor Macklon is a Medical Director of the London Egg Bank. He is a world-renowned expert in reproductive medicine. He has held professorships at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, the University of Southampton and the University of Copenhagen - where he is currently based. He is co-founder of the Complete Fertility Centre clinic in Southampton, and a member of the Executive Committee of the European Society of Human Reproduction.
The advent of vitrification has transformed the therapeutic landscape in assisted reproductive technology. Clear evidence for this is provided by the dramatic rise in the number of frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles being carried out annually. In this review, we examine the reasons that underlie this trend and the current evidence that points to the place FET cycles will come to inhabit in the future. Safety issues have been central to the narrative around the clinical application of vitrification and, as the evidence base grows, the risk benefit balance will become clearer for different patient groups. These will include recipients of donor eggs, as in some centres the use of cryopreserved donor eggs now exceeds that of fresh oocytes. Efficient cryopreservation techniques have also affected international transport of gametes and embryos, increasing international access. The profound changes that vitrification has created promises to fulfil a prediction made by this journal's founding Editor, Bob Edwards, that embryo and cryopreservation would solve many of the challenges presented by assisted reproductive technology.