Ovarian tissue banking for cancer patients: is ovarian cortex cryopreservation presently justified?

The effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy on future fertility is of concern to patients and their families. Whereas sperm banking is commonly performed, female gametes are not so amenable to cryopreservation. One alternative includes postponing cancer treatment to enable ovulation induction and oocyte aspiration. Whenever possible, retrieved oocytes should be fertilized in vitro prior to cryopreservation. Frozen embryos could serve to produce pregnancies if ovarian failure occurs. Donor sperm can be offered to single patients, as frozen-thawed unfertilized oocytes yield poor pregnancy rates. Ovarian cortex cryopreservation should still be considered an experimental technology as no pregnancies have been obtained in humans. Therefore, ovarian cortex banking should be used only for young girls, adolescents and when IVF is contraindicated. Reattachment of ovarian vasculature could prevent ischaemic follicular loss and enable ovarian transplantation in the future. This procedure is currently under investigation in animals. At the present time, we recommend urgent IVF in most patients requesting fertility preservation. Ovarian cryopreservation should be offered when emergency IVF is not possible.