Pregnancy after transplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue in a patient with ovarian failure after chemotherapy.

to the editor: Premenopausal women who undergo high-dose chemotherapy have a very high risk of ovarian failure. 1 Cryopreservation of ovarian tissue with subsequent autotransplantation has effectively preserved fertility in an animal model, 2 but its efficacy in humans has been uncertain. Eggs that were aspirated from cryopreserved ovarian tissue transplanted in heterotopic sites did not result in a pregnancy. 3 A live birth was reported after transplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue in a woman who had undergone treatment for Hodgkin’s disease; however, since the woman had ovulated before transplantation, it is uncertain whether the egg came from the native ovary or the transplanted ovary. 4 A recent report described a live birth after transplantation of fresh ovarian tissue from a fertile woman to her sterile monozygotic twin, but this approach does not involve preservation of fertility and hence is not applicable to women facing sterilizing chemotherapy. 5