TurnerFertility trial: PROTOCOL for an observational cohort study to describe the efficacy of ovarian tissue cryopreservation for fertility preservation in females with Turner syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the occurrence of live birth in women with Turner syndrome (TS) after ovarian tissue cryopreservation in childhood followed by auto transplantation in adulthood and to find reliable prognostic markers for estimating the ovarian reserve in girls with TS in the future. SETTING: An observational cohort study with long-term follow-up in a tertiary fertility clinic in the Netherlands. Patients recruitment between January 2018 and December 2021. PARTICIPANTS: 100 females aged 2 through 18 years with classical Turner (ie, 45,X0) or Turner variants (ie, 45,X mosaicism or structural anomalies). Girls with Y chromosomal content, minor X deletions with marginal impact on fertility, active HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C infection, and/or an absolute contra indication for surgery, anaesthesia or future pregnancy will be excluded. INTERVENTIONS: Ovarian cortical tissue will be harvested by performing a unilateral oophorectomy via laparoscopic approach. Ovarian cortex fragments will be prepared and cryopreserved. One fragment per patient will be used to determine follicular density by conventional histology, and to perform fluorescence in situ hybridisation analysis of ovarian cells. Routine chromosome analysis will be performed on both lymphocytes and buccal cells. A blood sample will be taken for hormonal analysis and all subjects will undergo a transabdominal ultrasound to determine the uterine and ovarian size. Patient characteristics, pregnancy rates and pregnancy outcomes will be collected from the patient’s medical record. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol has been approved by the Central Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects in November 2017 (CCMO NL57738.000.16). TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03381300.