Table 3.

Fertility Preservation Options for Girls and Women

Method	Description	Special Considerations
Embryo cryopreservation	Hormonal stimulation of ovaries and collection of oocytes to create embryos using IVF methods; resulting embryos are cryopreserved	Must be postpubertal; need partner or donor sperm; established technique with thousands of live births
Oocyte cryopreservation	Hormonal stimulation of ovaries and collection of oocytes with cryopreservation of unfertilized oocytes; can be fertilized in future to create embryos for transfer	Must be postpubertal; do not need sperm source; IVF required upon thawing; several studies demonstrating live birth rates similar to procedures using fresh embryosa
Ovarian tissue cryopreservation	Removal and cryopreservation of outer layer of the ovary (cortex), which contains immature oocytes	Experimental; can be pre- or postpubertal; outpatient surgical procedure; future uses include transplantation of thawed tissue or in vitro maturation of follicles and fertilization of oocytes; currently only option for prepubertal girls; 20 human live births from transplantation reporteda,b; none reported from in vitro maturation of follicles
In vitro maturation	Collection of immature oocytes without hormonal stimulation	Must be postpubertal; case reports demonstrating viable embryosc; one live birth reportedd

^aData from Cobo and Diaz.⁹³

^bData from Cobo and Diaz⁹³ and Donnez et al.⁹⁴

^cData from Fadini et al.⁹⁵

^dData from Grynberg et al.⁹⁶

IVF, in vitro fertilization.