PRESERVATION OF FERTILITY IN WOMEN UNDERGOING CHEMOTHERAPY - CURRENT APPROACH AND FUTURE-PROSPECTS

Purpose: Anticancer treatment causes ovarian failure. Methods: Some ho rmones may have a protective effect on the ovary. Cryopreservation (fr eezing) of oocytes has had very limited success, and therefore, curren tly its use before chemotherapy is not a feasible option. However; cry opreservation of embryos is possible. Another solution is oocyte donat ion followed by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Results: Ovarian cortica l slices containing primordial follicles have been cryopreserved succe ssfully. To restore fertility, cryopreserved-thawed tissue taken from cancer patients before therapy could be replanted after recovery. The possible risk of malignancy restoration could be eliminated by obtaini ng unilaminar follicles from cryopreserved-thawed tissue and growing t hem in vitro, followed by routine IVF: Conclusions: Although women who undergo chemotherapy face limited options for fertility preservation, intensive studies in cryopreservation and in vitro maturation of foll icles harbor hope for brighter prospects in the future.