Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is the key step towards the establishment of an ovarian tissue bank or the preservation of ovarian tissue for patients scheduled for gonadotoxic cancer therapies, aiming for fertility restoration later on. Conventional cryopreservation, or slow freezing, has been the mainstay of ovarian tissue cryopreservation. Vitrification has recently emerged as a new trend fo...

In vitro maturation of vitrified immature germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes is a promising fertility preservation option. We analyzed the ultrastructure of human GV oocytes after Cryotop vitrification (GVv) and compared it with fresh GV (GVc), fresh mature metaphase II (MIIc) and Cryotop-vitrified mature (MIIv) oocytes. By phase contrast microscopy and light microscopy, the oolemmal and cytoplasmic...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW The overall survival and cure rates of patients with childhood and adult malignancies have improved dramatically, but cancer treatment can be associated with diminished reproductive potential. However, research on the preservation of fertility in these patients has given patients new options. This article discusses the mechanisms of reproductive failure after cancer therapy an...

The purpose of this study is to develop a mouse sperm preservation method based on evaporative drying. Mouse sperm were evaporatively dried and stored at 4°C and ambient temperature for 3 months to 2 years. Upon rehydration, a single sperm was injected into a mature oocyte to develop into a blastocyst after culture or a live birth after embryo transfer to a recipient female. For the samples sto...

In vitro maturation (IVM) is an advanced embryology laboratory technique whereby immature oocytes, which are removed from ovarian follicles prior to completing their growth in vivo, are cultured from the germinal vesicle (GV) to the metaphase II (MII) stage. Upon reaching maturity in vitro, these eggs can then be fertilized and the resulting embryos can be cultured using conventional in vitro f...

Diagnosis of breast cancer in young women poses a threat to fertility. Due to a recent trend of delaying pregnancy, an increasing number of breast cancer patients in reproductive age wish to bear children. Health care providers have the responsibility to know how to manage fertility issues in cancer survivors. Oncofertility counseling is of great importance to many young women diagnosed with ca...

According to the latest World Health Organization classification (2014), mucinous ovarian cancers should be classified histologically as being either expansile or infiltrative. Compared to other epithelial cancers, both of these mucinous patterns are diagnosed, in the main, at an early stage, although they can affect relatively young patients. The infiltrative subtype is characterized by a morp...

Although it is well accepted that egg quality decreases with advanced maternal age, we do not know how it is affected at the earliest ages during the pubertal transition-likely because this young population is not typically reproducing. However, in the setting of fertility preservation, more childhood cancer patients are surviving their diagnosis due to medical advances, forcing patients and th...

As cancer treatment improves, more young men and women survive, but they suffer from infertility as a major sequel of cancer treatment. Gamete and embryo cryopreservation are the only options available to these patients for preserving their fertility. Although cryopreservation of spermatozoa and embryos are already established, oocyte banking is still experimental. The advent of testicular tiss...