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Risk of transferring malignant cells with transplanted frozen-thawed ovarian tissue

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2013.03.027Get rights and content
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Ovarian tissue cryopreservation and transplantation is a real option to preserve and restore fertility in young cancer patients. However, there is a concern regarding the possible presence of malignant cells in the ovarian tissue, which could lead to recurrence of the primary disease after reimplantation. A review of the existing literature was done to evaluate the risk of transplanting malignant cells in case of the main malignant indications for ovarian tissue cryopreservation. For ovarian tissue from patients with hematologic malignancies, it is of paramount importance to identify minimal residual disease before ovarian tissue transplantation. Indeed, these pathologies, reviewed here in detail, are considered to be most at risk of ovarian metastasis.

Key Words

Ovarian tissue cryopreservation
ovarian tissue transplantation
cancer
risk
malignant cells

Cited by (0)

M.-M.D. has nothing to disclose. V.L. has nothing to disclose. J.D. is a board member of Preglem and has received payment for lectures from Serono, MSD, Organon, and Ferring. C.Y.A. has nothing to disclose. T.G. has nothing to disclose.

Supported by grants from Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique de Belgique, Fonds Spéciaux de Recherche, Fondation Saint-Luc, Foundation Against Cancer, and donations from Mr. Pietro Ferrero, Baron Frère, and Viscount Philippe de Spoelberch (M.-M.D. and V.L.) and the Danish Cancer Society (T.G.).