[Preservation of fertility in tumour patients]

The success rates of present-day chemotherapy have provoked a rising awareness with regard to the preservation of quality of life among successfully treated patients. Among other factors, quality of life also implies the capacity to procreate. Unfortunately, both in men and women chemotherapy often irreversibly destroys the production of gametes, thereby causing permanent infertility. By its long-standing experience with the cryopreservation of oocytes, zygotes and embryos, reproductive medicine may offer assistance to those patients. Whereas the storage of cryopreserved semen has now become standard in most institutions, the options for the preservation of fertility in women suffering of malignant disease are still limited. Although cryopreservation of non-fertilized oocytes or of pronuclear cells has been established, both the number of oocytes that can be collected within the short time interval between the first detection of the tumour and the initiation of chemotherapy and the modest developmental capacity per frozen/thawed oocyte markedly limit the option of ovarian hyperstimulation and assisted reproduction. Several successful deliveries of healthy infants have now proven the feasibility of ovarian tissue cryopreservation and later orthotopic transplantation after successful tumour therapy. Further refinement of the techniques involved, but also the formation of multidisciplinary networks are expected to offer a solution for young women struck by cancer but striving to survive and to lead a fulfilled life.