Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation in Children

April 15, 2026 updated by: Mayo Clinic

Ovarian Tissue Freezing For Fertility Preservation In Girls Facing A Fertility Threatening Medical Diagnosis Or Treatment Regimen

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol is being designed to offer ovarian tissue cryopreservation to female pediatric patients (birth-17 years of age) with fertility threatening medical diagnoses or facing surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy that may cause loss of reproductive potential. Because this procedure is currently considered experimental, the establishment of an IRB protocol under which this opportunity can be offered is needed.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is currently considered experimental but offers the only opportunity for fertility preservation in pre-menarchal girls faced with a fertility threatening diagnosis or treatment plan.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Minnesota
      • Rochester, Minnesota, United States, 55905
        • Mayo Clinic in Rochester

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

No older than 17 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria: (All inclusion criteria must be met.)

  1. Female, age birth-17 years

  2. Meet at least one of the following three conditions:

    1. Have a diagnosis of a medical condition that is expected to result in permanent diminished or complete loss of subsequent ovarian function (e.g. Turner's syndrome) OR have a diagnosis that will create a need for surgery, chemotherapy, drug treatment and/or radiation for the treatment or prevention of the condition (e.g lupus nephritis) or malignancy and is expected to result in permanent diminished or complete loss of subsequent ovarian function. Unlike in males where a semen analysis provides an objective measure of testicular function, ovarian reserve testing remains subjective by evaluation of hormones. Therefore, to objectively qualify a degree of expected diminished loss of fertility is difficult.
    2. Or, have a medical condition or malignancy that requires removal of all or part of one or both ovaries. Girls with ovarian or germ cell tumors requiring removal of all or part of one or both ovaries will also be eligible for inclusion in the study.
    3. Or, have a newly diagnosed or recurrent disease affecting fertility.
  3. For patients undergoing elective removal of all or part of an ovary for fertility preservation only, they must have two ovaries.
  4. Sign an approved informed consent and authorization permitting the release of personal health information. The patient and/or the patient's legally authorized guardian must acknowledge in writing that consent for specimen collection has been obtained, in accordance with institutional policies approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Exclusion Criteria: (Any exclusion criteria will disqualify.)

  1. Girls with psychological, psychiatric, or other conditions which prevent giving fully informed consent.
  2. Girls whose underlying medical condition significantly increases their risk of complications from anesthesia and surgery.
  3. Subjects with extensive disease whose therapy is deemed palliative by the medical oncologist will not be selected.
  4. Subjects with suspected severe diminished ovarian reserve, such as a follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level of > 15.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Ovarian tissue cryopreservation
Children faced with a fertility threatening diagnosis or treatment plan will be offered ovarian tissue cryopreservation, particularly if pre menarchal and without other options to preserve fertility. Although considered experimental, there are over 120 live births worldwide using this technique
Procedure: Ovarian tissue cryopreservation
Ovarian tissue will be removed

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Number of pregnancy and live births after transplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue
Time Frame: 10-20 years
10-20 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Mayo Clinic

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Zaraq Khan, M.B.B.S., Mayo Clinic

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 16, 2017

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 22, 2040

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 22, 2040

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 4, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 4, 2016

First Posted (Estimated)

January 5, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 15, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 14-010037

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Cancer

Clinical Trials on Ovarian tissue cryopreservation

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Spain

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe