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Ovarian tissue cryopreservation for fertility preservation in cancer patients: Successful establishment and feasibility of a multidisciplinary collaboration

  • Fertility Preservation
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

As advancements in cancer therapies have led to dramatic improvements in long term survival, there has been increasing interest in methods to expand fertility preservation options for cancer patients.

Methods

An experimental protocol for ovarian tissue cryopreservation was developed at the University of Pennsylvania for patients requiring gonadotoxic therapies. The protocol for adults was implemented at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and for children at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in collaboration with the Oncofertility Consortium and the National Physicians Cooperative (NPC).

Results

A total of twenty-one patients (age range: 8–36 years) have cryopreserved ovarian tissue as part of this study. While patients had a variety of diagnoses and treatment exposures, 10/21 (48 %) patients suffered from hematologic disorders and 43 % were anticipating stem cell transplantation. No patients have requested that the tissue be used for clinical purposes.

Conclusions

Ovarian tissue cryopreservation protocols can be implemented at pediatric and adult institutions through multi-disciplinary collaboration. While more research is needed to determine the safety and efficacy of ovarian tissue cryopreservation, this procedure provides hope for preserving the ability to have biological offspring to patients facing gonadotoxic therapies for a variety of medical conditions.

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Acknowledgments

Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health KL1-CA-133839-01 (Gracia), National Institutes of Health R01HD062797-02 (Gracia), Oncofertility Consortium NIH 1 UL1 RR024926-01 NIH Roadmap Interdisciplinary Research Consortia

No company derived money was used for salaries for investigators or for talks. The first author was in charge of the data and wrote the paper.

We would like to acknowledge Gerry Knee and the andrology laboratory at Penn Fertility Care for processing and cryopreserving the ovarian tissue and Monica Mainigi, MD for preparing and examining the histologic sections of ovarian tissue.

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Correspondence to Clarisa R. Gracia.

Additional information

Capsule A protocol for ovarian tissue cryopreservation has been successfully established at an adult and pediatric hospital through multi-disciplinary collaboration.

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Gracia, C.R., Chang, J., Kondapalli, L. et al. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation for fertility preservation in cancer patients: Successful establishment and feasibility of a multidisciplinary collaboration. J Assist Reprod Genet 29, 495–502 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-012-9753-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-012-9753-7

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