ABSTRACT
The interest in cryopreservation of oocytes in human assisted reproduction is increasing. There are numerous reasons for this, and some of the more prominent ones are fertility preservation in young cancer patients, cryobanking of oocytes for future use to delay motherhood, legal restrictions regarding the number of oocytes that can be used for insemination in a fresh cycle after puncture (as in Italy), and oocyte donation programs. Although oocyte cryopreservation using a slow freezing protocol was successful in achieving pregnancies as early as 1986/1987 (1,2), the fi eld has recently attracted much interest due to encouraging data obtained with oocyte vitrifi cation (3,4). Another important stimulus was the change in legislation in Italy a few years ago, where nowadays only a restricted number of oocyte can be used for insemination (5). Legal restrictions seem to be a driving force for exploring new technologies and techniques and especially publications from Italian groups on cryopreservation of metaphase II oocytes have recently increased.
