Wall Street Journal examines ethical questions, efficacy of fertility restoration technique involving freezing ovarian tissue

Apr 30 2007

A technology that allows women to have ovarian tissue removed and transplanted back into their ovaries when they want to become pregnant is becoming an "intriguing option" for women who want to delay pregnancy, the Wall Street Journal reports.

According to the Journal , the technique involves removal of the outer shell of the ovary, which contains immature eggs. The shell is then divided into strips and frozen. The strips are reimplanted when the woman is ready to become pregnant, and the ovaries might begin to produce mature eggs.

Two infants -- one in Belgium and another in Israel -- have been born using the technique, and a third pregnancy using the procedure has occurred, with a due date this summer, the Journal reports. According to the Journal , hundreds of women have undergone the procedure, and most of them had medical problems, such as cancer, that would have left them infertile after treatments. The success rate of the procedure, which costs several thousand dollars, is uncertain because few women have decided to have their ovarian tissue reimplanted.

According to the Journal , demand for the procedure is increasing among healthy women who are requesting it to delay pregnancy, raising the question of whether the procedure is "justified" for such women, the Journal reports. The technique also raises an ethical question of whether there should be an age limit for the tissue to be reimplanted because the procedure can stimulate ovulation in postmenopausal women, according to the Journal . Roger Gosden, laboratory director at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Cornell University, said that "it's too late" for women in their late 30s and early 40s to use the technique and that tissue must be frozen by women "at a younger age" for the procedure to be efficacious. Current guidelines from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine discourage the procedure for lifestyle reasons, but the guidelines are in the process of being updated (Pagan Westphal, Wall Street Journal , 4/26).