ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

To read the full abstract: J Adolesc Health. 2017 Jul;61(1):120-123

Recent developments in assisted reproduction technologies (ART) have changed the scene for fertility wishes in a number of disorders, including GD. Fertility preservation is now routinely offered to postpubertal adolescent and adult GD patients at increasing numbers of medical centers. For biological boys, this is a non-invasive procedure and follows routine measures in sperm collection and cryopreservation. For biological girls, however, this is more complicated as it involves hormonal stimulation and invasive procedures to collect eggs before cryopreservation. There are also an increasing number of reports of children being born to transmen after temporary suspension of androgen treatment after years of therapy in persons who have avoided genital surgery with castrating effects. This paper by Chen et al. shows that fertility preservation services including ART show low rates of utilization despite such possibilites being actively promoted. Further, even though gametes have been collected and cryopreserved, it remains to be seen how frequently thses materials will be used by the donor in the future. More developments are expected in this area.