Ovarian Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury: A Brief Review

The ovarian artery supplies oxygenated blood to the ovary. Pathological conditions such as cysts, neoplasm, long mesovarium and adnexal venous congestion may lead to the ovarian torsion. Long-term arterial, venous or lymphatic obstruction of the ovary causes a critical reduction in tissue blood flow and permanent tissue damage [1]. So, early diagnosis and treatment of ovarian torsion is important to preserve ovarian functions and to prevent future infertility [2]. When adnexal torsion is detected, detorsion of the twisted adnexa and evaluation the tissue reperfusion is proposed to prevent future infertility even if tissues are cyanotic [2,3]. This ovarian torsion-detorsion process is named as ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury [4].