Application of Cryopreserved Ovarian Tissues

Transplantation of frozen/thawed ovarian tissue for fertility res-toration and regaining of fertility and menstrual cycles is rap-idly gaining ground as a valid method for fertility preservation alongside cryopreservation of embryos and oocytes. More than 130 healthy children have been born worldwide as a result of this procedure after an estimated more than 500 women have had tissue transplanted. The procedure is most often carried out by excising one ovary or part of an ovary and leaving the re-maining ovary in situ in case the treatment does not destroy all follicles or alternatively to be used as a suitable site for trans-plantation.The application of frozen/thawed ovarian tissue was originally developed towards cancer patients, but it is now starting to be used in a number of other situations, where it is not only fertil-ity but also the ovarian endocrine function which may be the desired effect upon grafting.Thus, the indications for performing ovarian tissue cryopreser-vation is now being expanded – the feasibility of using this technique in connection with following conditions will be cov-ered during my presentation.Fertility preservation for cancer patients; Rare genetic diseases– confirmed potential in children; Known causes of POI; Endo-metriosis; Postponing menopause; Social freezing – alternative to mature oocytes; In combination with in vitro follicle activa-tion; Anovulatory PCOS women – modern wedge resection Further, our laboratory has now successfully retrieved ovarian tissue from a transplanted woman and re-frozen it for a second time. This provides additional options for specific patient cat-egories. In addition, it has now been documented that ovarian tissue from truly pre-pubertal girls possess the capacity to sus-tain pregnancy when transplanted into an adult woman.