An Introduction to The Royan Human Ovarian Tissue Bank

From December 2000 until 2010, the researchers at Royan Institute conducted a wide range of investigations on ovarian tissue cryopreservation with the intent to provide fertility preservation to cancer patients that were considered to be candidates for these services. In 2010, Royan Institute established the Royan Human Ovarian Tissue Bank as a subgroup of the Embryology Department. Since its inception, approximately 180 patients between the ages of 7- 47 years have undergone consultations. Ovarian samples were cryopreserved from 47 patients (age: 7-35 years) diagnosed with cervical adenocarcinoma (n=9); breast carcinoma (n=7), Ewing’s sarcoma (n=7), opposite side ovarian tumor (n=7), endometrial adenocarcinoma (n=4), malignant colon tumors (n=3), as well as Hodgkin’s lymphoma, major thalassemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n=1-2 patients for each disease). Additionally, two patients requested ovarian tissue transplantation after completion of their treatments.