News Release

Do women receive appropriate counseling when they freeze their eggs?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

<i>Journal of Women's Health</i>

image: Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. view more 

Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

New Rochelle, NY, November 20, 2017--Oocyte cryopreservation is on the rise, and whether a woman freezes her eggs before undergoing medical treatment that could leave her infertile or undergoes an elective procedure to avoid concerns about reproductive aging, extensive counseling should be the norm. This is not the case, however, and a proposed universal outline of key counseling points and risk factors should be provided to all women, regardless of age and reason for pursuing oocyte cryopreservation, as described in a new study published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health website.

Coauthors Gloria Bachmann, MD, Taleen MacArthur, and Kavisha Khanuja, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (Piscataway, NJ), reviewed the medical literature to determine current counseling practices for women undergoing elective oocyte cryopreservation and found no uniform guidelines. Young, healthy women who choose to freeze their eggs for later use may not be aware of the greater potential risks, for both the mother and unborn child, associated with pregnancy in older mothers. In the article entitled, "Need for Comprehensive Counseling in Women Requesting Oocyte Cryopreservation," the authors present data to support more extensive counseling for women who choose to freeze their eggs for later use, similar to that provided to women undergoing assisted reproductive technologies to pursue near-term pregnancies.

"When a woman of any age chooses to undergo egg retrieval and cryopreservation she should have access to the knowledge and counseling available to be able to make a truly informed decision," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health. "As Bachmann et al. point out, the scope of that information should not differ depending on the age of the woman at the time of oocyte cryopreservation, reason for the procedure, or plans for future pregnancy."

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About the Journal

Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. Led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health, the Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health website. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Academy of Women's Health and the Society for Women's Health Research.

About the Academy

Academy of Women's Health is an interdisciplinary, international association of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who work across the broad field of women's health, providing its members with up-to-date advances and options in clinical care that will enable the best outcomes for their women patients. The Academy's focus includes the dissemination of translational research and evidence-based practices for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of women across the lifespan.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including LGBT Health, Transgender Health, Population Health Management, and Breastfeeding Medicine. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
140 Huguenot Street, New Rochelle, NY 10801mailto:http://www.liebertpub.com
Phone: 914-740-2100
800-M-LIEBERT
Fax: 914-740-2101


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