Freezing Ovarian Tissue

Cryopreserving ovarian tissue is a way to preserve female fertility when it is threatened by treatments administered to combat malignant diseases. Although it is a very promising technique, it is still at the experimental stage.

During the procedure, a section of the ovaries that contains many immature follicles is removed laparoscopically and subsequently frozen with vitrification.

This method offers the following future prospects:

Orthotopic transplantation, meaning the transplant is placed back in the anatomical position of the ovary
Heterotopic transplant, meaning the tissue is transplanted to another location in the body, e.g. subcutaneously
In vitro maturation of primary follicles and immature ova (eggs) until they reach the stage of mature ova and can be fertilised using IVF

The progress noted in the field of ovarian tissue cryopreservation is continuous and offers the hope of having children. Recently, our team successfully completed the transplantation of ovarian tissue that had been cryopreserved at IAKENTRO, for the purpose of preserving the fertility of a female patient with gynaecological cancer.