Freeze healthy ovarian tissue before surgery to remove them
Transplanted ovaries have been producing hormones for more than seven years
The results of the work of a group of scientists led by Samuel Kim are published in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics (Assessment of long term endocrine function after transplantation of frozen-thawed human ovarian tissue to the heterotopic site: 10 year longitudinal follow-up study; a summary of the results can be read here: Life span of ovarian grafts longer than expected – VM).
For women diagnosed with cancer, doctors cut out and freeze part of the ovarian tissue. If the patient recovers, the ovaries are thawed and transplanted back using heterotopic transplantation, in which the organ is placed in an unusual place.
According to Kim, until now it was not known exactly for how long thawed ovaries can function normally and produce hormones. The doctor and his colleagues observed five women who were cured of cancer and underwent heterotopic ovarian transplantation between 2001 and 2011, while the hormonal activity of the transplanted tissues remained. The patients gave blood monthly for hormone testing, and also underwent ultrasound examination.
Doctors found that all five women's ovaries began to produce hormones 12-20 weeks after transplantation. Within two years after the operation, the transplanted tissues stopped functioning normally, and the scientists performed a second transplant on the patients. It is noteworthy that after repeated transplantation, ovarian function recovered faster and persisted for a longer time (from nine months to seven years).
The ovaries of a 28-year–old woman who underwent transplant surgery in 2003 and 2004 after radiation therapy - she was treated for cervical cancer - retained hormonal function the longest. For more than seven years after transplantation, the transplanted tissues produced hormones.
"Long-term restoration of endocrine function after ovarian transplantation will greatly facilitate the lives of young cancer patients. As far as I know, this is the longest restoration of ovarian function after heterotopic transplantation of frozen tissues mentioned in the literature," Kim noted.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru02.07.2012