Bridge Clinic Records Nigeria’s First Cryopreservation Baby

A fertility centre, the Bridge Clinic, Lagos, has recorded the first live birth of a baby boy, using the oocyte cryopreservation protocol in the country. The outcome of the process carried out in the clinic earlier this year, was a healthy baby boy called Tiwatope.

Oocyte cryopreservation is the cooling of female eggs to sub-zero temperature in order to stop all biological activity and preserve them for future use.

According to Dr Emmanuel Owie, a fertility doctor at the clinic, Tiwatope’s birth was significant in many aspects as it puts Nigeria on the global map in the practice of oocyte cryopreservation.

The doctor explained further that the mother of the infant had her eggs frozen using the vitrification, also known as flash-freezing process (the cutting edge technology in cryobiology, where the eggs or oocytes of a woman are dehydrated and the water content replaced with “anti-freeze” solution (cryoprotectants) before freezing).

The Coordinator, Corporate Communications and Client Services, Dr. Ekundayo Omogbehin, stated that with this accomplishment in fertility processes, Nigerian women need not go to foreign lands in search of fertility options.