Dallas IVF Transitions to All -Vitrification by Chronicling Physician’s Egg Freezing Cycle
Nov. 17, 2016, Dallas, Texas — Sara J. Mucowski, M.D., will begin an egg freezing cycle this month to preserve fertility using the newest technique, vitrification. Dara L. Havemann, M.D., who trained at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston with Dr. Mucowski, will direct the treatment cycle. To raise fertility awareness, Dallas IVF will chronicle the journey on its Facebook page.
Dr. Mucowski is 33 years old and has already had ovarian reserve testing to confirm that she is a good candidate for egg freezing. On Nov. 10, she began self-injections of fertility drugs to stimulate her ovaries to produce multiple eggs.
“One common misconception about egg freezing is that it depletes a woman’s lifetime supply of eggs,” explains Dr. Havemann. “While it’s true that a woman is born with all of the eggs that she will ever have, the body prepares multiple good candidates for ovulation each month — one becomes dominant and the others are reabsorbed. In an egg freezing cycle, we draw from all of the candidates in the pool.”
Once the eggs have matured, Dr. Havemann will prepare Dr. Mucowski for egg retrieval in the Dallas IVF – Frisco location. The cryopreservation procedure will be chronicled on the Dallas IVF Facebook page.
Empowering choices in reproductive medicine
Dr. Mucowski grew up in rural Pennsylvania before pursuing advanced degrees in medicine and an obgyn residency. She then completed additional fellowship training in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at USC Fertility in Los Angeles, a pioneer in egg freezing credited with one of the first live births from a frozen egg.
After successfully passing her oral and written boards to become a board certified reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, Dr. Mucowski is now entirely focused on building her medical practice at Dallas IVF. She plans to postpone family building until a more opportune time.
“As a professional woman in my early 30s, I have fully committed to helping others start their families with basic and advanced reproductive technologies,” says Dr. Mucowski. “The question for me wasn’t whether I would pursue fertility preservation, but why wouldn’t I?”
What to expect after egg freezing
Once the eggs are evaluated under the expert eye of a Dallas IVF embryologist, they are bathed in a cryoprotectant and quickly transferred to liquid nitrogen. The temperature plunges to -196°C to temporarily suspend biological activity. The process, called vitrification, protects the eggs – during freezing and thawing – and prevents them from forming damaging ice crystals.
“Prior to the use of vitrification, women had limited choices for preserving fertility,” says Brian Barnett, M.D., founder of Dallas IVF. “Egg freezing is one of the most exciting breakthroughs in reproductive medicine since ICSI revolutionized male fertility treatment.”
Follow Dr. Mucowski through each stage of egg freezing to eventual thawing, fertilizing and transferring embryos in a future IVF cycle. The first phase will take place in 2016, with completion dependent upon a timeline of Dr. Mucowski’s choosing, rather than an alarm sounded by a biological clock.
About Dallas IVF
Serving the community since 1997, Dallas IVF provides the highest standard of care and individualized treatment, recognizing that no two family-building journeys are the same. We bring the full strength of our shared experience to every hopeful individual or couple under our care. Brian D. Barnett, M.D., Lowell T. Ku, M.D., Dara L. Havemann, M.D., and Sara J. Mucowski, M.D., offer a combined 45+ years of experience. Our physicians are responsible for our exceptional pregnancy success rates and reputation as one of the nation’s leading fertility centers. Contact Dallas IVF at (214) 297-0020 or visit dallasivf.com.