C.there is a demand for interventions to preserve fertility, in view of a subsequent pregnancy. The demand for interventions to preserve fertility, in view of a subsequent pregnancy, is growing. Among the causes also the increase in youth cancers: today the possibility of not being able to have children due to treatment is no longer accepted as an inevitable effect.
“Ovarian damage depends on the drug, dose, age and ovarian reserve of the patient. Radiotherapy also increases the risk of premature ovarian failure, ”he explains Mario Preti, associate professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the University of Turin and member of the Scientific Committee of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation. “Cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is the most innovative solution alongside the others (pharmacological protection with GnRH analogues, freezing of embryos, freezing of oocytes, ovarian transposition).
Fertility and cryopreservation
With the intervention in laparoscopy a peripheral portion of the ovary is removed which contains the primordial follicles with immature oocytes, resistant to freezing and thawing. To restore fertility, cryopreserved ovarian tissue is transplanted into the remaining ovary or abdominal wall. It is the technique indicated in “low-risk” tumors – such as that of the breast or cervix in the initial stages -, as well as in childhood (leukemia, sarcomas …) and the first choice in emergencies, if chemotherapy cannot wait. For girls it is the only possibility. In the center of the University Clinic of Turin since 2000, 268 cases have been followed »says Mario Preti.
iO Donna © REPRODUCTION RESERVED