Chapter 15 Development of a Nationwide Network for Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation

Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is gaining much interest since the publication of the first live birth after retransplantation of frozen-thawed tissue in 2004 (Donnez et al., Lancet 364:1405-1410, 2004). In contrast to cryopreservation of gametes and embryos, ovarian tissue freezing is a complex requiring a proper approach in order to make this a viable option for fertility preservation of cancer patients. Due to the need in terms of laboratory space, equipment, personnel, and adequate logistics, an ovarian tissue cryobank is most economic if managed as a centralized service unit that interacts with numerous clinics covering the surgical part. Transportation of ovarian tissue under appropriate conditions from the surgical unit to the cryobank for subsequent preparation and freezing has been shown to have no impact on cryo-survival (Schmidt et al., Hum Reprod 18:2654-2659, 2003; Isachenko et al., Fertil Steril 91:1556-1559, 2009). Several children have been born after retransplantation of such tissue that was derived from the cryobank in Bonn, Germany (Homepage FertiPROTEKT. http://www.fertiprotekt.de ). This cryobank is one of the largest in the world with more than 1300 tissue samples that were frozen from 2003 until today. It is integrated in the network FertiPROTEKT (Homepage FertiPROTEKT. http://www.fertiprotekt.de ) and is served by 108 surgical centers that are located all over Germany. The concept of this cryobank is a blueprint for success and has recently been used for another regionally centralized cryobank in Beijing, China. In this chapter the most important topics that need to be considered while creating a centralized cryobank within a national or regional network are highlighted.