“Freezing Time: Preserving Fertility”

While medical advances make the news every day, there remains a domain where even man’s greatest innovations have yet to breech—time.

Like the adage, time stops for no man, the same can be said for women. Indeed as a woman ages, her natural ability to conceive will be compromised until she can no longer get pregnant without assistance from a fertility specialist.

While we are unable to stop the clock, reproductive endocrinologists or fertility doctors can provide an option for young women called oocyte cryopreservation or egg freezing.

This technology is still relatively new and was developed for young women who wanted to preserve their reproductive potential in the face of a cancer diagnosis.

According to the city’s first sub-specialty board certified reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Bruce Shapiro, “Cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy often render a woman sterile. Obviously saving a woman’s life is the priority, but we cannot be so cavalier to think that her quality of life won’t be diminished by taking away her chance at biologic parenthood. With egg freezing we are able to provide options and more importantly, hope, in the face of a life-threatening disease.”

There are few places that offer egg freezing and fewer still that have experienced the success in thawing and subsequently achieving pregnancies as The Fertility Center of Las Vegas, the center for whom Dr. Shapiro and UCLA-educated reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Said Daneshmand, own and practice.

But egg freezing isn’t just the domain of the young woman facing cancer; it can be an option for the woman who simply want to preserve her future fertility when the present situation is not conducive for raising a family, or for the millions of women who experience infertility every year and require egg donation.

Infertility is defined as not being able to get pregnant after at least one year of trying. It is estimated over six million women annually in the United States aged 15-44 are having difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a baby to term.

According to Dr. Daneshmand, “More and more women are waiting until their 30s and 40s to have children. About 20 percent of women in the United States are now having their first child after age 35,” said Dr. Daneshmand.

The number one reason for female infertility is poor egg quality or quantity. If a woman anticipates this decline and banks her eggs when she’s young, she has an advantage over other older women who usually have to opt for donor egg in order to conceive after the age of 35.

It’s estimated that about one third of couples in which the woman is over 35 have fertility problems. He suggests that women in their 30s who have been trying to get pregnant for six months should speak to their doctors as soon as possible.

Other factors that might affect a woman's ability to have a baby include stress, poor diet, being overweight or underweight, smoking, alcohol, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

The Fertility Center has seen patients from around the world largely because of their pregnancy success rates. Many of the Center’s 3,700 births are from patients outside of the area who travel to an internationally recognized center where the odds are in their favor for having a child.

When the odds reflect such success, its hard not to ebullient at the result—a healthy baby or babies. Consequently Drs. Daneshmand and Shapiro host an annual patient reunion to have a moment beyond the office to share happy stories. Because the patients are so full of gratitude, each year’s event also serves as a fundraiser for a family-related charity. To-date over $50,000 in contributions have been made to local non-profit organizations because of the Center’s patients and staff.  

Both Drs. Shapiro and Daneshmand are on faculty at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and work diligently to find better, more cost-effective methods of helping men and women experiencing infertility have a family. The Fertility Center of Las Vegas is proud of the extensive research that has led to the positive impact made in reproductive medicine including egg freezing. It’s the primary reason the Fertility Center of Las Vegas is the city’s largest and most successful assisted reproductive practice treating both men and women.

 “To fulfill the dreams of our patients is so rewarding,” said Dr. Daneshmand. “We know we are privileged to participate in the most intimate of human expressions and bring life to loving couples. It is a magic moment that never loses it luster.”