Editorial
Paolo Emanuele Levi Setti,
Abstract
Oocyte cryopreservation is gaining widespread clinical acceptance. The main indications include: a) Fertility preservation in cancer patients or other fertility-impairing conditions; b) Patients at risk of premature ovarian failure; c) Oocytes banking for donation programs; d) Cases with no sperm available at the time of oocyte harvesting; and e) Cases where for religious reasons patients prefer to cryopreserve gametes instead of embryos. Oocytes cryopreservation has recently been proposed also for women that wish to postpone their reproductive plans at later age for career or social reasons. The utilization of oocyte preservation in this setting is appealing also from an ethical perspective, allowing maintenaince of reproductive autonomy and rights at later age, thus avoiding the stigma of childlessness or resorting to oocytes donation to fullfil the desire of motherhood. However, despite increasing reports about the safety (hundreds of documented births and reassuring data on obstetrical and neonatal safety), the 2009 practice committee opinion of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) still considers oocyte cryopreservation an experimental procedure requiring an investigational IRB-approved protocol. It is anticipated that soon the ASRM by reviewing the accumulating worldwide evidence of high survival and pregnancy rates, comparable to those obtained with fresh oocytes, will remove the label of experimental.