Preserving fertility in cancer patients is of unmatched significance to provide future hope of raising a family.
In young married or unmarried women about to start radiation or chemotherapy or to undergo any surgery it is essential to preserve their fertility either by freezing their eggs or ovarian tissue as these forms of treatment are usually gonadotoxic and the amount of damage depends upon patient’s age, fertility reserve and type and dosage of the drugs used in treatment.
Fertility preservation techniques are usually done in cases of cancers like Breast cancer,Hodgkin’s and Non Hodgkin’s Lymphomas and Borderline Ovarian tumors.
Besides Carcinomas these methods can also be used in cases of Severe Endometriosis,Auto immune disorders,FragileX syndrome,Turner Mosaics and patients with premature ovarian insufficiency(women<40 yearsand AMH<1.2ng/ml)
If a patient has adequate time before starting treatment i.e approximaetely 2-3 weeks then oocyte freezing is the method of choice.However in cases where immediate treatment needs to be started one can go for ovarian tissue freezing.In this method the ovary of the patient is removed either Laparoscopically or via Laparotomy and the ovarian cortex is frozen using special vitrification methods.
In Adult and adolescent males ,sperm cryopreservation is the method of choice before embarking on any form of cancer therapy.However in prepubertal boys one can opt for testicular tissue cryopreservation as well.
We are the first In India(2006) and one of the few units in India where these two techniques of oocyte freezing(2007) and ovarian tissur freezing(2006) are available.