Ovarian tissue freezing

Ovarian tissue freezing is a process in which very small pieces of the ovary are frozen and preserved in liquid nitrogen. Ovarian tissue freezing is an experimental procedure that may enable patients to preserve fertility prior to chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or prior to removal of their ovaries by surgery. Only small pieces of ovary may be preserved in this way, but if the patient is young, those small pieces may contain thousands of eggs. The process of freezing such small pieces of tissue is relatively well established. However, the process of utilizing these small pieces of tissue to achieve pregnancy in humans is currently being developed. Current techniques may lead to a substantial loss of oocytes and the delicate surgery of successfully grafting the ovarian tissue which can function in the future is still challenging.