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Updated: Jul 16, 2025
Z-Scores for Assessing Ovarian Reserve in Young Patients Undergoing Fertility Preservation
Published on: October 25, 2024
Minimal Infiltrative Disease Identification in Cryopreserved Ovarian Tissue of Girls with Cancer for Future Use: A
Monika Grubliauskaite1,2,3, M E Madeleine van der Perk4, Annelies M E Bos4,5
1Center for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, Santariskiu Str. 4, LT-08406 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Background:
Ovarian tissue cryopreservation and transplantation are the only available fertility techniques for prepubertal girls with cancer. Though autotransplantation carries a risk of reintroducing malignant cells, it can be avoided by identifying minimal infiltrative disease (MID) within ovarian tissue.
Methods:
A broad search for peer-reviewed articles in the PubMed database was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines up to March 2023. Search terms included 'minimal residual disease', 'cryopreservation', 'ovarian', 'cancer' and synonyms.
Results:
Out of 542 identified records, 17 were included. Ovarian tissues of at least 115 girls were evaluated and categorized as: hematological malignancies (n = 56; 48.7%), solid tumors (n = 42; 36.5%) and tumors of the central nervous system (n = 17; 14.8%). In ovarian tissue of 25 patients (21.7%), MID was detected using RT-qPCR, FISH or multicolor flow cytometry: 16 of them (64%) being ALL (IgH rearrangements with/without TRG, BCL-ABL1, EA2-PBX1, TEL-AML1 fusion transcripts), 3 (12%) Ewing sarcoma (EWS-FLI1 fusion transcript, EWSR1 rearrangements), 3 (12%) CML (BCR-ABL1 fusion transcript, FLT3) and 3 (12%) AML (leukemia-associated immunophenotypes, BCR-ABL1 fusion transcript) patients.
Conclusion:
While the majority of malignancies were found to have a low risk of containing malignant cells in ovarian tissue, further studies are needed to ensure safe implementation of future fertility restoration in clinical practice.
