Women Can Delay Menopause By Up To 20 Years Through Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation

Women can delay menopause for up to 20 years through a procedure that involves freezing the ovaries.

The procedure known as ovarian tissue cryopreservation was developed in the late 1990s for a different purpose. It was primarily intended to preserve the ovaries of girls and young women who need to undergo cancer treatments that can leave them infertile.

The procedure involves taking our parts of the ovaries and freezing them before a patient undergoes chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Once the patients wants to have children in the future, doctors would reimplant the ovarian tissue in their body.

UK-based company ProFaM (Protecting Fertility and Menopause) now offers the same procedure but for a different purpose and target market: women up to age 40 who just want to delay menopause.

Menopause is the period when a woman’s reproductive hormones fall and women stop having their monthly menstruation. For many women, this period in life is characterized by uncomfortable symptoms. which include hot flashes, mood swings and even serious health issues such as osteoporosis, memory problems and heart disease.

The idea is that once a woman enters menopause, the tissue can be reimplanted into her body to restore the sex hormones, which could pause menopause.

“This has the potential to be of significant benefit to any woman who may want to delay the menopause for any reason, or those women who would have taken HRT, and there are lots of benefits around that,” said Simon Fishel, an IVF doctor who set up the company with other specialists.

ProFaM has so far performed the procedure on nine women at costs ranging from about $8,500 to $13,300. The procedure usually lasts just 30 minutes.

“The younger it’s done, the longer you have the benefit and the more eggs are available,” Fishel said.

One problem with the procedure, however, is that no one knows the kind of effects ovarian tissue cryopreservation will have on people as time goes by and it could take several decades before potential problems could be identified.

"For all we know it could change cancer risk," said CBS News medical contributor David Agus.. "It could change cognitive function later as you get older. We just don't know the answer."