MSNBC.com Examines New Ovarian Tissue Transplant Procedure

Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 23 Sep 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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MSNBC.com on Thursday examined an experimental procedure that aims to preserve the fertility of girls and young women undergoing medical treatments for cancer and other conditions that could cause them to become sterile. The procedure, featured on NBC's "Today" show, involves surgically removing one or both of the ovaries, freezing them and then implanting the tissue back into the body after the medical treatments, such as chemotherapy, are completed. Because women are born with a lifetime supply of eggs in their ovaries, the theory of the procedure is that the ovarian tissue can be frozen and then reimplanted later in life.

Kutluk Oktay, a physician who has reimplanted ovarian tissues in six women, said that the procedure "connects [the girls] to the future and allows them to maybe have a more positive outlook." Fewer than 100 girls have undergone the procedure, and only a handful of doctors worldwide perform the procedure, according to MSNBC.com. Oktay said none of the young girls from whom he has removed tissue are old enough to determine whether the frozen tissue will begin producing mature eggs.

MSNBC.com profiled three girls who have had the procedure, including a two-year-old girl who had a rare form of anemia. Her parents had the procedure performed on her before she had a bone marrow transplant. Also profiled was a 16-year-old girl with a cancerous tumor near her bladder and a woman who had her ovaries removed before undergoing chemotherapy for cancer (Celizic, MSNBC.com, 9/18).

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