Gonadal cryopreservation in the young patient with gynaecological malignancy

Abstract

For patients who are planning to have chemotherapy, radiotherapy or to undergo bilateral oophorectomy, the loss of ovarian function will result in premature ovarian menopause and loss of fertility. Embryo preservation is not an option for single women or married women because delaying treatment for at least 2 months of in-vitro fertilization cycles is inappropriate and may be life-threatening. This study reports on the indications for ovarian tissue cryobanking and the state of the art of this method in preserving fertility in women with iatrogenic premature menopause.

Human oocyte and ovarian tissue cryopreservation and its application

“…Therefore, cryopreservation of ovarian cortex tissue which is rich in primordial and primary follicles has been suggested as an alternative to ovulation induction and oocyte cryopreservation for preserving fertility [87,88]. Viable follicles survive after freezing-thawing of human ovaries [89] and ovarian tissue [90][91][92].…”

Beneficial effect of desialylated erythropoietin administration on the frozen-thawed canine ovarian xenotransplantation

“…Several options are currently available to preserve fertility in cancer patients and provide the opportunity for mothering when they have overcome their disease: embryo cryopreservation, oocyte cryopreservation or ovarian tissue cryopreservation [2]. Among these, cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is the only option available for prepubertal girls and woman in need of immediate chemotherapy [3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

Histological Evaluation of the Effects of Cryopreservation in Bovine Ovarian Tissue

“…Potential strategies for helping such patients include embryo, sperm, or oocyte cryopreservation (1,2). However, embryo and sperm cryopreservation are inappropriate for children and unmarried women because these techniques involve a male partner, unless sperm donation is acceptable (1).…”

“…The embryo cryopreservation also requires superovulation, which is time consuming and also causes side effects. Oocyte cryopreservation is still at an experimental stage, therefore it cannot yet be offered as a routine technique for female patients before chemo and/or radiotherapy (2). The possibility of restoring fertility by transplantation or in vitro culture of frozen ovarian tissue may hopefully become a good choice for these patients (3).…”