Fertility Preservation at NYU Langone Fertility Center
Navigating a cancer diagnosis is challenging, but the world-class team at NYU Langone Fertility Center (NYULFC) can help you protect your reproductive health.
At NYULFC, we have provided comprehensive, safe, and time-sensitive care for over 250 women who chose to freeze their eggs before undergoing chemotherapy or other medical treatments that may impact fertility. Whether you live in or around New York City, or come from somewhere else in the country or internationally, we can provide immediate and efficient care to preserve your fertility prior to beginning life-saving treatments. Dr. Elizabeth Fino specializes in our fast-track process for patients undergoing fertility preservation due to medical necessity.
Cancer Treatments and Fertility
Chemotherapy and other cancer treatments work by targeting and killing cells that divide and multiply quickly, like cancer cells. However, these treatments can also impact oocytes (eggs), as they also divide and multiply quickly. There is no surefire way to know how chemotherapy will impact your fertility. It depends on various factors, including how long treatment will be, drug dosage, and age. Therefore, we encourage all patients who wish to undergo medical fertility preservation to do so before their cancer treatment.
Fertility Preservation Options
Patients can preserve their fertility through egg freezing (retrieving eggs and freezing them for future use to create embryos) or embryo banking (creating and freezing embryos for future use). We can perform genetic testing before freezing if the patient creates embryos.
How Fertility Preservation Works
Patients may experience an accelerated course of care due to the time-sensitive nature of this treatment. Here's what you can expect with fertility preservation at NYULFC:
- First, you’ll meet with an oncologist to create an appropriate cancer treatment plan and to assess the need for fertility preservation.
- Then, you’ll meet with one of our reproductive endocrinologists to discuss a fertility preservation treatment plan.
- Our nursing staff completes a physical examination, orders medications, and assesses insurance coverage, available treatment grants, or other financing options.
- The ovulation induction and egg retrieval process begins. This takes approximately 12-14 days, depending on how you respond to treatment.
- You can start your cancer treatment following egg retrieval.
Fertility Preservation: FAQs
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We preserve eggs and embryos through vitrification, an ultra-rapid freezing process. We perform vitrification in our state-of-the-art embryology laboratory, wherein the eggs (or embryos) are rapidly cooled to subzero temperatures.
When our patients are ready to use their frozen eggs or embryos, we reverse the vitrification procedure, allowing them to warm back to room temperature. We'll prepare the uterus and transfer the embryos shortly after.
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Pricing for medical fertility preservation of eggs can be broken down as follows:
- Egg Freezing Cycle - $7,500 (including one year of storage)
- Egg storage following the first year - $800 (per year)
- Anesthesia - $1100
- Medication - $2000-8000
Pricing for medical fertility preservation of embryos can be broken down as follows:
- Egg Freezing Cycle - $7,500 (including one year of storage)
- Egg storage following the first year - $800 (per year)
- Anesthesia - $1100
- Medication - $2000-8000
- Optional Preimplantation Genetic Testing - $4600
- This includes biopsy and freezing of up to 10 embryos. There is an additional $415 charge per embryo if the number of embryos the patient wishes to test exceeds 10.
The above figures represent a self-pay cycle. Depending on the patient’s insurance plan, some of the above may be eligible for coverage. Additionally, we participate in the LIVESTRONG Fertility Discount Program and the Ferring Pharmaceuticals Heart Beat Program to provide cost assistance for our patients battling a cancer diagnosis.
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The fertility preservation process takes about 12-14 days. Once complete, you can begin cancer treatment immediately.
Schedule a Fertility Preservation Appointment at NYULFC Today
At NYU Langone Fertility Center, our fertility specialists combine patient-centered care with state-of-the-art technology to help patients preserve their fertility while navigating a cancer diagnosis. Contact us today for more information or to schedule an appointment.