Ovarian Cryopreservation

Ovarian Cryopreservation is emerging as one of the great miracles of modern medicine. It is still very much an experimental procedure, yet its early successes have demonstrated its already a valuable tool for fertility preservation with considerable potential for positively changing lives still to come.

Ovarian cryopreservation involves harvesting ovarian tissue and preserving it, either in cryopreservation (freezing) or temporarily implanting the tissue somewhere safe from cancer treatments (such as under the skin of the arm). Following the patient's recovery, or when she is ready to start a family, the tissue is reimplanted and just by showing up seems to have the power to awaken and trigger the existing reproductive organs into action.

This is a useful procedure for women facing cancer treatments, and one of the most promising for children - which clearly have the most to to lose and to gain by preserving their future fertility options.