Ovarian cryopreservation: experimental or established and a cure for the menopause?

Long-term (>7 years) duration of function of ovarian cortical tissue grafts in three patients who have had several successful pregnancies is encouraging and requires us to carefully examine the risk benefit analysis of this technique for our future patients. However, the success rate for ovarian cryopreservation is unclear as the denominator (the number of women in whom frozen-thawed ovarian tissue has been re-implanted) is unknown. There still remain many unknowns and much more research is required before ovarian transplantation can be considered standard practice. The ability of ovarian cryopreservation to preserve fertility for some young survivors of cancer is proven, but the indications for which patients should be offered this exciting new technology are not yet established.