Challenges of fertility preservation in leukemia patients.

An ongoing increase in survival rates among young leukemia patients is accompanied by a growing attention to possible long-term complications such as chemotherapy induced ovarian insufficiency and infertility. Therefore, an important element of the management of these patients is fertility preservation, which is challenged by considerations specific for leukemia. Such considerations include prepuberty, poor medical condition on presentation and the need for urgent chemotherapy, all of which may preclude the use of conventional assisted reproductive technologies.

Transplantations of frozen-thawed ovarian tissue demonstrate high reproductive performance and the need to revise restrictive criteria.

Objective: To report the single-center results of orthotopic retransplantations of cryopreserved ovarian tissue in cancer survivors and evaluate the validity of commonly accepted procedure limitations.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary university-affiliated assisted reproduction technology (ART) and oncology centers.