Oldest Woman on Record Uses Her Own Frozen Eggs to Conceive and Give Birth |
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 Because a woman's fertility begins to rapidly decline around age 40, most clinics issue a cut-off age that allows the women to use their own eggs for IVF (in vitro fertilization). However, Dr. John Zhang of New Hope Fertility Center in New York City recently helped a 49-year-old patient conceive using her own eggs that were frozen at age 48, and who gave birth earlier this month—making her the oldest woman on record to do so.Using a "natural" or "mini-IVF" with little or no drugs to stimulate multiple egg production, Dr. Zhang says he attempts to help women up to age 49 to concieve biological offspring. "For any loving couple, it's one of the greatest gifts," he said. "Both the doctor and the patient should not give up easily just because of a woman's age." Typically clinics will suggest that a patient use donor eggs from a younger woman in order to get pregnant. For Dr. Zhang's most recent patient, however, the treatment took almost two years. "They respected my desire to try to use my own eggs and continued to work with me," said the woman, who is remaining anonymous. "They were open and honest about whether or not this was still a viable possibility." According to Dr. Zhang, his clinic treats 60 to 80 women over age 45 a year who want babies with their own eggs. Five to eight of the patients will actually give birth, he said. |
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