Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Urologist Leads Collaborative Study on Fertility Counseling Prior to Chemotherapy

For younger cancer patients, fertility counseling at the time of cancer diagnosis is important for making family planning decisions. Ranjith Ramasamy, M.D., a clinician and researcher at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, was the lead author of a new collaborative study, “Evaluation of Reported Fertility Preservation Counseling Before Chemotherapy Using the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative Survey,” published JAMA Network Open.

Study Defines How to Safely Remove Ovary in Young Girls for Best Results in Fertility Preservation

Young girls who are about to undergo treatment for cancer or other therapies that pose high risk of infertility can opt to have an ovary removed and preserved for future transplantation when they are ready to pursue pregnancy. However, the tiny ovary can be easily damaged during surgery and the quality of ovarian tissue for fertility preservation is affected by the surgical removal technique, according to a study from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery. Using an experimental piglet model, researchers defined the safest laparoscopic technique for removing the ovary that also results in the best quality ovarian tissue for later use.

Scientists Map Structural Proteins Across an Ovary, Another Step Toward “Ink” Development for 3-D Printing a Bioprosthetic Ovary

For the first time, scientists identified and mapped the location of structural proteins in a pig ovary. Ongoing development of an “ink” with these proteins will be used for 3-D printing an artificial (or bio-prosthetic) ovary that could be implanted and allow a woman to have a child. Findings were recently published in Scientific Reports.