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A review of 15 years of ovarian tissue bank activities

  • Fertility Preservation
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To review 15 years of activities in ovarian tissue cryobanking from medical database files, including patient indications, histological evaluation and clinical characteristics.

Methods

Retrospective longitudinal analysis of data from an ovarian tissue bank in an academic hospital. Five hundred and eighty-two patients had their ovarian tissue cryobanked between April 1997 and January 2012. Analysis of cryobanking database: precryopreservation patient characteristics, indications and safety issues, laboratory files and postcryopreservation clinical data.

Results

Of the 582 patients who had their ovarian tissue cryopreserved, 106 patients donated for research purposes and 476 patients for fertility preservation and long-term cryopreservation. Clinical data analysis of the 476 patients revealed a mean age at the time of cryopreservation of 23 ± 8.5 years (range: 9 months – 39 years), with 96.2 % of subjects aged ≤35 years (n = 458). Among 391 cases of malignant disease, hematological malignancies (39.9 %, n = 156) and breast cancer (21.7 %, n = 85) were the two main indications. At histology, malignant cells were found in ovarian tissue from leukemia patients (n = 3) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma patients (n = 2). Eleven patients underwent autotransplantation, resulting in 5 live births and 1 ongoing pregnancy.

Conclusion

This is the largest and most comprehensive study to describe and analyze indications and clinical patient characteristics before and after ovarian tissue cryopreservation. The procedure is safe, easy and promising. The database concept is a useful tool in patient selection for autotransplantation.

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Acknowledgments

The present study was supported by grants from the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique de Belgique (grant Télévie N0 7.4507.10, grant 3.4.590.08 awarded to Marie-Madeleine Dolmans), the Fonds Spéciaux de Recherche, the Fondation Saint-Luc, the Foundation Against Cancer, and donations from Mr Pietro Ferrero, Baron Frère and Viscount Philippe de Spoelberch. We thank Mélanie Gorez and Cristina Marinescu for their help with data completion of the database.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gynecology, Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique (IREC), Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier, 52, B-1200, Brussels, Belgium

    Marie-Madeleine Dolmans, Pascale Jadoul, Sébastien Gilliaux, Christiani A. Amorim, Valérie Luyckx, Jean Squifflet, Jacques Donnez & Anne Van Langendonckt

  2. Department of Gynecology, Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc, Avenue Hippocrate, 10, B-1200, Brussels, Belgium

    Marie-Madeleine Dolmans, Pascale Jadoul, Valérie Luyckx, Jean Squifflet & Jacques Donnez

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  1. Marie-Madeleine Dolmans
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  2. Pascale Jadoul
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  3. Sébastien Gilliaux
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  4. Christiani A. Amorim
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  5. Valérie Luyckx
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  6. Jean Squifflet
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  7. Jacques Donnez
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  8. Anne Van Langendonckt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marie-Madeleine Dolmans.

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Capsule

This article describes our 15 years of experience in ovarian tissue cryopreservation and cryobanking, from patient selection to postcryopreservation and autotransplantation outcomes.

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Dolmans, MM., Jadoul, P., Gilliaux, S. et al. A review of 15 years of ovarian tissue bank activities. J Assist Reprod Genet 30, 305–314 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-013-9952-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-013-9952-x

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