Of the few women who have requested for the thawed tissues to be transplanted back, all of these women have had their tissues resume hormonal production, and they have got their normal menstrual cycle back. For the first time in 2004, a child was born to a foreign woman who had her thawed ovarian tissues transplanted back.

TRYING TO CONCEIVE AFTER chemotherapy for cancer may be mission impossible for some women. But with ovarian tissue cryopreservation, the stork may still deliver little bundles of joy to those who have given up their dream of becoming a mother.

Chemotherapy does not always affect fertility, but it may stop the ovaries from working for a while, or permanently. This depends partly on the drugs and their dosage, with some more likely than others to cause infertility.

"While there are more women diagnosed with cancer at an earlier age, the good news is that chemotherapy has also become more advanced. With more women successfully treated, they will want to have the option of preserving their ovaries for future impregnation. This method of preserving fertility for women about to undergo chemotherapy may also be extended to women who want to delay having children and those suffering from medical conditions that prevent conception.

If you have a hereditary predisposition to an early menopause, recurrent cysts of the ovaries that require repeat surgery leading to the loss of your eggs, or in some cases when you have endometriosis which necessitates repeat surgery of the ovaries, cryo-preservation of ovarian tissues remains a viable option to preserve fertility

OVARIES AND EGGS

An egg is released each month from a woman's ovaries from puberty to menopause. Because the numbers of eggs are predetermined at birth, no new eggs are produced during her life time, and once a woman reaches menopause - when the ovaries are depleted of the eggs - pregnancy is no longer possible.

HARVEST AND FREEZE

Harvesting of the ovarian tissue is carried out by laparascopica or keyhole surgery under full anaesthesia. One or a part of the two ovaries is removed. The outer shell of the ovary where the immature eggs are is then treated and stored.

The tissue is carefully dissected with microsurgery and is then divided into strips. These strips are cryo-preserved and kept at -195°C. When you wish to recommence ovarian function, for the purpose of pregnancy, the tissue can be thawed and transplanted back.

The site of the ovarian tissue replacement may vary from one woman to another. So far, we have tried to replace the tissue in the remaining ovary, in the abdomen or in the epithelium. This procedure will again need a laparascopic surgery

When transplanted back into the woman, these strips of tissue recruit their own blood supply and once again start producing healthy mature eggs.

GOOD ODDS, STRONG ALTERNATIVE

Although there are currently no guidelines on the age of the woman, or when the tissue can be transplanted, eventual pregnancy at a younger age is preferred. Doctors recommend that the tissue should not be replaced after the turn of 40 years. Also, In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) is usually needed to become pregnant and there is an age ceiling for IVF.

Since this procedure has been available, more than 200 women in Denmark have cryo-preserved their ovaries,

For the first time in 2004, a child was born to a foreign woman who had her thawed ovarian tissues transplanted back.

Way before ovarian tissue cyro-preservation became available; it was already possible to cryo-preserve fertilised and non-fertilised eggs. However, some degree of hormone treatment is needed. Thus, this treatment may not be a viable option for some women.

When women have a hormone-related cancer, for example, breast cancer, preservation of eggs is not recommended.

Because hormone treatment is required for cryo-preservation of eggs, it may be detrimental in such cases. This is when the alternative of ovarian tissue cryopreservation comes in.

Painting a picture of hope for couples who experience the frustration of not being able to conceive, different couples may have different roadblocks on their road to parenthood. There are various options for women to preserve their fertility and other treatment methods to help couples have children.