Ovarian tissue banking for cancer patients. To do or not to do?
A large proportion of childhood and young cancer patients will lose their fertility after aggressive cancer therapy because of the gonadotoxicities of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. One of the strategies to preserve fertility for those facing premature ovarian failure is ovarian tissue banking. We are seeing a growing enthusiasm about this emerging technology. At the same time, scepticism is prevalent, as the efficacy of ovarian tissue banking for fertility restoration in humans has not yet been proved. However, there is ample evidence of its efficacy in animal studies. Ovarian tissue banking requires further investigations and should be considered experimental in humans at present.
Kim
S Samuel
SS
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Eulji University School of Medicine, 280-1 Hagye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul, South Korea. medssk@attglobal.net
D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D010053:Ovary / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects / Q000637:transplantation; D011247:Pregnancy; D014015:Tissue Banks; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000379:methods