If doctors could remove pieces of the person's ovaries, they would be able to get mature eggs in the lab. This would involve getting immature eggs to the stage at which they can be fertilized by sperm.
Some people who have survived cancer have been able to achieve this. Some cancer treatments can be harmful to the reproductive system. People are advised to store their eggs or sperm for later use. It's not an option for children who haven't been through puberty.
If a child's ovaries are removed, some clinics can use the tissue to create mature eggs and fertilize them with sperm, implanting the resulting embryo back into them when they're grown up. The technique appears to work. The technique should no longer be considered experimental according to three US-based reproductive medicine societies.
Christodoulaki and her colleagues believe that the technique could be used to help people with infertility. They tried the approach in donated ovarian tissue.
Fourteen trans men between the ages of 18 and 24 donated their ovaries as part of their gender affirming treatment. Some of the participants were taking a drug to stop them from menstruating while others were undergoing testosterone therapy.
The team removed the eggs that were close to being released. The team used immature eggs from cis gender women. Eggs were ready to be fertilized with sperm after 48 hours in a lab dish.
Half of the immature eggs were grown in the lab. The team attempted to fertilize the eggs with sperm. The percentage of trans men's eggs that could be fertilized was less than that of cis gender women.
Only 2% of trans men's eggs were still alive when they were five days old, compared with 25% ofcis women's eggs.
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