Since Dr. Oktay has performed the world’s first successful ovarian transplantation procedure with cryopreserved tissue, the procedure has evolved significantly. Its increased success rates led American Society of Reproductive Medicine to remove it from the experimental category. Given its success with patients with medical indications, the procedure is now considered for women who wish to prevent reproductive aging, delay childbearing, or have menopause delayed so that they do no need to utilize hormone replacement therapy. We are leaders in this area and offer ovarian tissue freezing to healthy women if they meet the criteria. Check out our latest publication on this topic here.
With this approach you may have a piece of your ovarian tissue frozen before the age of 40. The ovarian tissue is cryopreserved in small pieces. In the future, as you begin to experience ovarian aging, we may transplant few pieces at a time to enable your ovarian tissue to provide you protracted function. Normally there are thousands of spare eggs in the ovary, this “stretch” approach may prevent wasting of your eggs that occur under natural conditions. If your only goal is to prevent or treat menopause, we can also transplant ovarian pieces under the abdominal skin with local anesthesia, using a technique first invented and published by Dr. Oktay (see the article in the medical journal Lancet from 2004).