Introduction:
At the present time the legislation in force (Law 14/2006 dated 26 May), only allows the freezing of ovules in centres that have been expressly authorised by the corresponding health authorities. This is due to the fact that, up until recently, the freezing of ovules offered few prospects to the users because of the unsatisfactory results obtained.

With the appearance of vitrification as a cryopreservation technique the results have considerably improved and in the case of Catalonia, the Generalitat (Government of Catalonia) grants authorisations for the freezing of ovules to centres that fulfil certain requirements.

Biogest offers this service to women who have any of the following indications.

To preserve the feminine fertility:

• Prior to aggressive treatments that could be a compromise (chemotherapy, radiotherapy).

• Early menopause.

To postpone maternity for social reasons. As the woman ages, the ovules age and this supposes a decrease of fertility and an increase of genetic anomalies. If the young ovules are frozen these effects do not increase.

For moral reasons. In assisted reproduction techniques, there are couples who do not want to freeze their embryos, but on the other hand agree to the freezing of ovules.

To avoid legal problems. Frozen embryos can cause conflict in the case of separation, but this is not so with ovules.

The creation of ovule donation banks. This permits reducing the waiting time for a donor and obtaining more affinity between the donor and the recipient.