If you have received a referral to Nairobi IVF for medical fertility preservation (such as oncology cancer), or you wish to refer a patient for medical fertility preservation, please contact +254 20 2731982 and mention this at the time of your appointment to ensure you are seen within 24-48hrs by one of our Fertility Preservation Specialists, and a counsellor if required.
Tissue and gamete cryopreservation for cancer patients
What is tissue and gamete cryopreservation?
This refers to the process of freezing ovarian or testicular tissue, or human gametes, such as eggs or sperm, with the hopes of using it for future use in assisted reproductive treatments.
Fertility preservation is an essential part of cancer management. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation and grafting is now acknowledged as an important and successful fertility preservation method.
Who would need tissue cryopreservation?
Tissue cryopreservation is the only option for pre-pubertal patients and for post-pubertal at-risk patients where gamete cryopreservation (mature eggs and sperm), is not possible. While Testicular tissue cryopreservation still remains experimental in boys, there have been live births reported from primates using this technology, suggesting testicular tissue from pre-pubertal boys is also likely to be a useful option.
Why haven’t we heard of this before?
Highly specialised handling, processing and cryopreservation techniques are required to maximise opportunities for the tissue to restore fertility in the future. Currently many young people with cancer are not offered these fertility-saving options due to lack of local resources and expertise.