Fertility Preservation In Children Specialist

Dr. Kutluk Oktay pioneered several techniques to preserve fertility in children. He’s one of the very few physicians in the world who can preserve fertility in children. He developed and performs techniques that include:

• Ovarian Tissue Freezing and Transplantation
• Egg Freezing
• In Vitro Maturation
• Testicular Tissue Freezing

What is the purpose of fertility preservation in children?

Fertility preservation offers children who’ve been treated for serious illnesses, or those with a genetically high risk of losing their egg reserve and fertility early on (such as the Turner’s Syndrome), the opportunity to produce children as adults. Many treatment options used for cancer can damage the reproductive organs, or destroy the ability to produce viable eggs or sperm, but technological advancements made over the last few years allow parents the opportunity to freeze their children eggs, or ovarian or testicular tissue or sperm in older boys, for later use.

Dr. Oktay recommends discussing these options and potential outcomes with your child if they're old enough to understand. For younger children, he can limit the discussion to parents.

At what age can a patient store sperm in a sperm bank?

Teen boys who've passed the age of puberty can collect sperm for storage that can be used at a later date. A boy must be able to produce viable sperm for a collection to be made. At this time, research is pending regarding methods that would allow children to later produce viable sperm from frozen-stored the testicular tissue. Dr. Oktay is one of the few experts in the world who can perform freezing of testicular tissue.

Most medical professionals, including Dr. Oktay, recommend that a boy should reach the age of 13 and have completed puberty, before attempting to produce a viable sperm specimen. For children who are unable to produce ejaculation, he can work with experts to foster specimen collection through other methods. Parents of children who are scheduled to undergo cancer treatments are encouraged to contact Dr. Oktay, to determine if their child would be eligible to store their sperm for a later date.

How early can ovarian tissue be harvested for freezing?

Parents of girls who've been diagnosed with cancer may choose to freeze her ovarian tissues in an attempt to make it possible for her to have a child once they reach adulthood. Dr. Oktay has developed and performed the world’s first ovarian tissue cryopreservation and transplantation procedures.

Dr. Oktay can preserve ovarian tissue at any age before menopause. He has even performed ovarian tissue freezing from as young as one-year-old children. There’ve been several live births after the transplantation of frozen ovarian tissue from as young as the age of nine. However, because ovaries are formed at birth, there’s no reason for this to be unsuccessful with ovaries from younger children.

Since contributing to the development of the latest medical technology, Dr. Oktay applies certain procedures that help both boys and girls protect their ability to produce children at a later date. He’s available to answer questions you may have about this type of procedure, and whether or not it can be used in a particular situation.