[Oocyte cryopreservation : medical and social indications]

The increasing survival rate in cancer patients and the global tendency to delay motherhood are two distinct phenomena leading to an increased demand for fertility preservation. Currently, fertility preservation is possible to be achieved with less hormonal exposure and without delaying oncological treatments. Based on this knowledge, any patient with an oncological diagnosis should be referred to a fertility specialist to consider gamete cryopreservation. In addition, the indication for fertility preservation have been extended to many benign pathologies. Awareness of age-related fertility decline coupled with a tendency to delay motherhood is leading more and more women to consider social egg freezing. For these women, oocyte cryopreservation allows them to maintain their reproductive lifespan until an age when they feel ready to become mothers.