An artificial ovary may allow cancer patients to preserve their fertility, according to Danish researchers exploring a process in which early-stage cells can develop into functional ovarian follicles, CNN reported.
The research is to be presented at the 34th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona, Spain by the study's co-author, Dr. Susanne Pors, who is a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Reproductive Biology at the University Hospital of Copenhagen Rigshospitalet.
"The artificial ovary will consist of a scaffold (originating from the woman's own tissue or from donated tissue) combined with her own follicles," Pors explained to CNN. "It is newly constructed, but biological."
The research stems from initiatives to preserve a woman's fertility while she undergoes cancer treatment.
The American Cancer Society reported that cancer treatments can drastically impact a woman's ability to conceive.
Most chemotherapy drugs can damage a woman’s eggs, affecting her fertility. Therefore, women are advised to take measures to preserve their fertility before undergoing treatment.
At the moment, there are only two options available.
A woman can opt to remove and freeze her eggs and then attempt in-vitro fertilization at a later stage or she can remove the ovarian tissue before treatment, have it frozen and then re-implant it once she has finished treatment, CNN noted.
The problem with the latter option, which the American Society of Reproductive Medicine considers "experimental," is that the ovarian tissue removed could contain malignant cells and therefore, once it is implanted, it could re-introduce cancer to the body.
If researchers were able to successfully construct an artificial ovary that could allow cancer patients to preserve their fertility, they would open up a door of possibilities when it comes to fertility preservation.
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