Ovarian Tissue Freezing

Oocyte and ovarian tissue cryopreservation (Science Direct)

Most of us have heard about egg retrieval, in which egg cells are extracted from the ovaries. The cells can be fertilized in a lab in the process known as in-vitro fertilization (IVF). They can also be frozen ("oocyte cryopreservation") for future use to extend a woman's childbearing years past menopause.

It now turns out that menopause can be delayed--and fertility retained--through ovarian tissue freezing: [bold added]

[Yale School of Medicine (YSM), Kutluk Oktay, MD, PhD], who developed and performed the world’s first ovarian transplant procedure with cryopreserved tissue for a patient with a medical indication in 1999, sees a future in which healthy women could use this process of freezing tens of thousands of eggs within the ovarian tissue to stave off menopause for as long as several decades—or even prevent its onset altogether.

“For the first time in medical history, we have the ability to potentially delay or eliminate menopause,” said Oktay, who is also an adjunct professor of obstetrics, gynecology & reproductive sciences at YSM.

Deciding how much ovarian tissue to extract and freeze is complicated:

The more tissue a surgeon removes, the longer the procedure can potentially delay menopause. However, the removal of too much tissue can lead to early menopause. “This model gives us the optimum amount of tissue to harvest for a person of a given age,” said Oktay.

In addition to extending fertility, delaying menopause may confer health benefits:

Studies show that women who experience menopause later may live longer and have a lower risk for a range of conditions, including cardiovascular disease, dementia, retinal disease, depression, and bone loss. However, uncertainty remains over whether later menopause actually reduces those health risks. Oktay hypothesizes that those risks also may be mitigated in healthy women who delay menopause via ovarian tissue cryopreservation.

If risk for such chronic diseases is reduced in healthy women who undergo this procedure, it could be a significant benefit. However, Taylor said that “additional research is needed to determine long-term benefits as well as risks.”

Much more work needs to be done to perfect the model calculations and test their applicability to real world decisions. However, it does appear that the technology will soon exist to extend a woman's fertility--and her life span--by decades, with ramifications that are difficult to imagine.