Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation

• You will need a surgical procedure to remove an ovary. Sometimes this can be combined with other needed surgical procedures.
• During the procedure, the surgeon will remove the whole ovary and place it in a preservative liquid. The ovary will then be driven in a sterile container to a lab at Seattle Reproductive Medicine, where it will be processed and initially frozen.
• The ovary will then be sent to ReproTech, a long-term storage facility for reproductive materials.

The use of ovarian tissue is a developing field. You will need to talk with a fertility specialist when you decide to use the tissue. Currently, the ovarian tissue may be able to be thawed and placed back into the body in another surgical procedure. In the future, there may be other ways to restore fertility using the tissue, such as in vitro fertilization or in vitro maturation.

It depends. While Seattle Children’s goal is to make all care affordable, the procedure is not always covered by insurance companies.

Our Seattle Children’s authorization team will first contact your insurance company to check if OTC is a covered benefit and if they require prior authorization. If prior authorization is required, they will put in an authorization request for OTC. If you are interested in learning more about the specific timeframe of the insurance process, please contact us at 206-987-5757.

If your insurance rejects the authorization request and decides to not cover the procedure, our financial counselors will discuss the costs and pre-payments needed from you to proceed with the procedure.

If you do not have time to wait for authorization before starting treatment, you may need to have the procedure before your insurance company gives authorization. If this happens, a prepayment is required. The prepayment can vary based on the specifics of your surgery. Our financial counselors will discuss this process with you.

After the procedure your insurance will be billed. If your insurance covers the procedure, our team will contact you to refund your pre-payments.

There are separate external costs of the freezing and storage of the ovary. The fertility preservation team will talk with you and your family about how much this will cost.

If you are interested in learning more about the potential costs of the surgical procedure, please call our financial counselors at 206-987-3333.

If you need more information on the authorization process or would like to check-in on the status of your authorization, please call us at 206-987-5757.

If you and your care team decide that OTC is right for you, and financial clearance is completed, you will be scheduled for a pre-operative visit to meet the surgeons.

Our fertility preservation team will also provide you with consent forms for processing and storage of your ovary. These forms are to make sure that you understand and agree to the process and potential risks that come with storage and handling.