Human ovarian tissue cryopreservation: indications and feasibility.
BACKGROUND
The cryopreservation of ovarian tissue may enable women exposed to gonadotoxic treatments to have children at a later date.


METHODS
Between April 1998 and October 2000, we evaluated the feasibility of long-term ovarian tissue cryopreservation in 51 women who were all at risk of becoming sterile following treatment.


RESULTS
Ovarian tissue was not cryopreserved in 20 cases because of the woman's age or premature ovarian failure. In 31 patients, ovarian tissue was frozen by a slow cooling technique using DMSO and sucrose as cryoprotectants. The patients were aged 2.7-34 years and 16 of them were <18 years old. Cryopreservation could be performed in all cases. Ovarian cortex histology was performed for all patients to evaluate the concentration of follicles. The mean number of primordial and primary follicles per mm(2) was 20.36 +/- 19.03 before 10 years of age, 4.13 +/- 2.9 between 10 and 15 years of age and 1.63 +/- 3.35 after 15 years of age. An average mean number of 26 +/- 8.2 ovarian fragments (range 13-50) were cryopreserved per patient for future autografts or for in-vitro growth of follicles.


CONCLUSIONS
Cryopreservation of ovarian tissue may be systematically proposed to young women and girls at risk of becoming sterile as a result of gonadotoxic treatment.
Poirot
Catherine
C
Laboratoire de Biologie de la Reproduction, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Université Paris VI, 75013 Paris, France. catherin.poirot@psl.ap-hop-paris.fr
Vacher-Lavenu
Marie-Cécile
MC
Helardot
Pierre
P
Guibert
Juliette
J
Brugières
Laurence
L
Jouannet
Pierre
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D010053:Ovary / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000637:transplantation; D016649:Primary Ovarian Insufficiency / Q000209:etiology; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; D014021:Tissue Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous