Preserving Fertility after Cancer Treatment

The amazing world of cancer therapy has led to a growing population of hopeful survivors. Until recently, just staying alive was the goal. Now, patients and doctors alike are talking about preserving future fertility in spite of treatments that formerly meant almost certain sterility.

Dr. John Schnorr with Southeastern Fertility Center in South Carolina is one of a handful of reproductive endocrinologists specializing in the preservation of ovarian function through ovarian tissue transplant.

"Physicians who diagnose and treat cancer typically want to begin treatment within a few days of diagnosis," says Schnorr, whose award- winning work was approved in 2000 by the Investigational Review Board (IRB) at the Medical University of South Carolina. "What I explain to those who've been referred to me is that while their survival rate can fortunately be as high as 90 percent, the chances may be even higher that they'll experience premature ovarian failure or early menopause regardless of their age, and sometimes over as short a time as weeks or a few months."

Advances in chemotherapy treatments for all types of cancer have resulted in more survivors, but many later find that the very therapy that saved their life will likely now work against their attempts to create new life. The use of radiation to treat cancers in the reproductive areas likewise have potential to cause permanent sterility.

A recently released study indicates that fertility problems are one of several life issues that continue to impact adult survivors of childhood cancers. Ovarian tissue transplant is being looked at for its potential to allow cancer survivors to join the ranks of biological parenthood.

The still-experimental process of ovarian tissue transplant is simple:

  • Immediately after a woman's cancer diagnosis, laparoscopy is performed that will allow Schnorr and his associates to determine the present condition of both ovaries, and whether one or both ovaries could be candidates for cryopreservation.
  • Removed tissue is immediately frozen.
  • When the patient is ruled cancer-free by her oncology team, the tissue would be transplanted back into the woman's body with hopes of resulting healthy oocyte development.

Dr. Schnorr adds that patients can begin chemotherapy on the day following laparoscopy. He emphasizes that the procedure does not change a woman's endocrine levels, a crucial factor in chemo treatments.

While no live births have yet resulted from ovarian transplant, Schnorr anticipates that the procedure will work best for women who are younger than 35 at the time of their cancer diagnosis, with regular menstrual cycles, and who are being treated for cancer which is not ovarian- specific and has not spread to the ovary. He urges women who are considering this or any other experimental treatment to seek programs which are IRB-approved.

For more information on this ground-breaking work, see Southeastern Fertility Center Learn more about Dr. John Schnorr