Tips to Prevent Infertility

• Do not delay seeking pregnancy.
• Temporary Contraception.
• Use of services of human reproduction units when necessary focusing on premarital assessment.
• Safe sex.

Related factors to infertility:

1. Sexually transmitted diseases and pelvic inflammatory disease.
2. Endometriosis.
3. Contraceptives:

– Birth control pills because of irregular ovulation.
– Intrauterine device which leads to an increased likelihood of tubal infection.

4. The voluntary termination of pregnancies.
5. Demographic studies indicate that both the reproductive age population and infertility are increasing.

Our Alternatives

• Mother of the Future:
Women, who for any labor issues, want to postpone childbearing.
With a simple blood test and a yearly ultrasound, you can carry your medical history of ovarian reserve to ensure the future of your fertility.

• Cancer Patients:
Young women diagnosed with cancer will receive complementary treatments such as radiation or chemotherapy. Nowadays, thanks to early detection and advances in cancer treatments, scientists have managed to increase the cure rate and survival of cancer patients. As fertility specialists, we highly recommend the egg cryopreservation for fertile future before to start any cancer treatment due to its deleterious or toxic effects.

• Workplace hazards:
Patients exposed to different risks that affect hormonal and reproductive system such as radiologists, military, chemical, farmers and others.

• Other patients:
Patients have reached a premature menopause due to ovarian failure or ovarian surgery, and patients with chromosomal abnormalities have the chance to achieving a pregnancy through egg donation.

Female Fertility Preservation

CECOLFES’s Fertile Future Program now offers long-term storage of frozen eggs (oocytes). Our cryobank egg preservation unit uses the most effective techniques to preserve female gametes (eggs) at very low temperatures. These cells remain alive but dormant to be used later in an assisted reproduction treatment.

On March 18 2004, CECOLFES launched the first human egg cryobank from Colombia and Latin America using vitrification techniques. Vitrification Is a process where cells are stored at temperatures of -196°C in liquid nitrogen allowing us to keep them in a viable state.

Thanks to the benefits of egg cryopreservation, CECOLFES can contribute to the success of particular assisted reproduction treatments to different groups of patients.

Sperm cryopreservation in the sperm bank is used in this cases:

• In men who want to postpone their fatherhood.
• In patients who want to have a vasectomy but prefer to save for the future.
• Patients showing severe oligozoospermia that want to concentrate sperm cells later used in assisted reproduction techniques.
• Patients in risk of affect their fertility as a result of cancer treatment, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

For Parents of the future:

With a seminal sample we can evaluate the quality and quantity of your sperm and thus determine your current reproductive status.

Sperm Cryopreservation:
Cryopreservation is the process by which cells or tissues are frozen at very low temperatures without suffering alteration in their functions.

Cryobiology has allowed the preservation of semen for extended periods (about 15 years) keeping sperm cells with fertilizing capabilities once thawed.

Preservation of eggs, sperm, embryos, ovarian, or testicular tissue BEFORE starting your assisted reproductive treatment, is the best decision to preserve your fertility.

For those who are starting any cancer treatment and think parenting after finish it, in CECOLFES we do have available the possibility of preservation of eggs, sperm, embryos, ovarian or testicular tissue. Preservation of fertility should be done before starting any cancer treatment.

Every day, cancer treatments ensure a higher percentage of survivors in the world. In the United States it is estimated that by the year of 2022 the total of cancer survivors will reach 18 million people. Therefore, it will be millions of people around the world in reproductive age to have the opportunity to continue their life plan.