Young women who undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatment for cancer now have a chance at saving their fertility along with their lives.
The new medical procedure, called ovarian tissue cryopreservation, involves the removing and freezing of a woman’s ovary prior to cancer treatment.
According to NBC News, the procedure has helped prorate the birth of 20 children worldwide.
Kutluk Oktay, Ph.D., a specialist and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York Medical College, told NBC that although freezing eggs has been an available treatment for years, it is a method that does not work well with women who have aggressive cancers or hormone sensitive tumors.
Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is a 40-minute procedure that enables doctors to remove an ovary and then replace it by transplant once a woman has completed cancer treatment.
The charge of the procedure is minimal if combined with another surgery. Otherwise, it is estimated to cost more than $6,000.
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