50-year-old woman gives birth with unfrozen egg IVF in Korea

Infertility Medical Center of Gangnam CHA Women's Hospital said on Tuesday a 50-year-old Korean woman got pregnant and gave birth to a healthy baby last month using own unfrozen eggs in the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process, setting another milestone in the development of assisted reproductive technology (ART) in Korea.

This is a rare success case in fertility clinics where using stored frozen eggs is a norm for successful childbearing. IVF is a process that involves fertilization of an egg in a test tube and transfers it back to the womb.

According to the hospital, the woman made her first visit to the center in June 2018 to consider IVF after infertility due to her relatively mature age. Generally, fertility falls rapidly after the age of 35.

She began to undergo IVF in September 2019 and two fertilized eggs were collected after multiple attempts before placing in the woman’s uterus in September 2020.

After being diagnosed with gestational diabetes during pregnancy, she was guided to follow personalized prenatal care involving nutrition and lifestyle carefully designed by the center’s multidisciplinary team and eventually gave birth to a 5.96-lb baby boy through C-section at the end of May.

Infertility Medical Center of Gangnam CHA Women's Hospital provides personalized care to old or intractable infertility patients through surgical treatment of infertility and ART-based pregnancy program. The clinic also cooperates with its robotic surgery center to treat uterine and ovarian diseases with a focus on preserving fertility to increase the pregnancy likelihood among women of childbearing age.

CHA Hospital is widely known for its solid track record and world’s first records in infertility care. Its flash freezing process developed in 1998 and an egg bank established in 2002 were all world's first.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]