The Toronto Star: “Cancer treatment could take away this 12-year-old girl’s chance of someday having children. A new Toronto procedure kept hope alive”

Jennia Michaeli, an assistant professor in the department, spoke with the Toronto Star about an innovative fertility-preservation procedure for children and young adults facing cancer treatment.

Michaeli leads Mount Sinai’s ovarian tissue cryopreservation program, the first of its kind in Ontario and the largest in Canada. The program removes ovarian tissue and flash-freezes it before the patient undergoes cancer treatments that can damage fertility, thus preserving the possibility of future parenthood for patients who have not hit puberty or are too ill for standard egg-freezing procedures.

“Ovarian tissue cryopreservation fills a critical gap for patients who would otherwise not be able to save their fertility,” Michaeli said.

The tissue can safely be stored for years before being surgically reimplanted back into a patient’s pelvis, where it grows new blood vessels. The Ontario program is so new that no patient has yet had ovarian tissue reimplanted, though surgeons in the province are training on how to do the procedure, Michaeli said.

Since launching in late 2023, the program has helped more than 50 patients, about half of whom are children and teens. Mount Sinai and SickKids collaborate to offer the procedure to eligible pediatric cancer patients. There’s no age restriction on the procedure.

“Even though it’s not a guarantee, it keeps hope alive for patients and for parents,” said Michaeli.

Michaeli is also advocating for broader access across the province, emphasizing that fertility preservation should be available to all eligible patients, regardless of financial circumstances.

Michaeli is a reproductive endocrinology and fertility specialist at Mount Sinai Fertility Clinic.