Women with cancer who need to begin chemotherapy regimens as quickly as possible but would like to be able to conceive at a later date may have a new option.
The procedure is called Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation. In it, doctors remove a section of ovarian tissue from one ovary that contains eggs, then freeze the tissue prior to the start of chemotherapy. Available to women between the ages of 18 and 42, the patient will have access to 80% of the removed tissue for the future; the other 20%, it appears, will be donated over to research.
About 25 sites across the US are offering the procedure, in collaboration with The Oncofertility Consortium at Northwestern University.
Benefits: The procedure takes no more than one or two days and doesn't involve hormones—two significant features that even make the procedure possible for female patients as young as one year old.
Source: Medical News Today
