The gynecologist of Sardinian origin is a specialist in procreation in Bologna: “With cryopreservation, cancer patients can have a child”
SASSARI. It’s Plan B to pull out at the right moment, when life has already thrown you a big bill and it’s time to take your revenge. As after a cancer, after the grueling sessions of chemo and radiotherapy that take away the strength and darken the image of the future. There are women who face this difficult path full of unknowns knowing that there could be an after full of joy, because they have a secret card to play. These women followed a piece of advice: to have their oocytes collected and stored in liquid nitrogen at 196 degrees below zero, that is the chance to become mothers. Two of these women are Sardinians and they received the advice from another Sardinian, a doctor who made procreation her life mission.
Her name is Eleonora Porcu, she is 69 years old, she is Venetian on her mother’s side and Buddusò’s Sardinian on her father’s side. Thanks to her, gynecologist and director of the infertility and medically assisted procreation structure of the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic in Bologna, 15 women already cured of a tumor but made sterile by treatment, have become mothers. Two are Sardinian: one from Nuorese had a baby boy, another from Cagliari first gave birth to a baby and is now expecting twins. Both have thawed “the treasure”, the oocytes stored about 10 years earlier: they stopped time, reset the disease, gave legs to hope and life.
The treasure in the freezer. The story of these women is told in a study published in the prestigious scientific journal “Cancer”, and is the result of a quarter-century-long work. «I started in 1996 – explains Dr. Porcu – surrounded by doubts and skepticism. Few believed in the possibilities offered by cryopreservation of oocytes, it seemed science fiction that they survived after thawing and could lead to pregnancy. I have always felt the strong duty to do something useful to promote life and the desire for motherhood, especially on the part of those women who, following a tumor, undergo premature ovarian failure that does not allow them to have children. An injustice that pushed me to go ahead on this path: the results achieved are exceptional, in fact they demonstrate that the cryopreservation technique works and patients must be informed of this extraordinary possibility. Indeed, for those who fight cancer, the prospect of becoming a mother helps, encourages, gives a surprising strength against the disease ».
I study. Between 1996 and 2021 508 cancer patients, coming from all over Italy but also from abroad, chose to freeze their oocytes before starting cancer treatments. Among them, 156 cancer patients followed by the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic went into premature menopause following chemo. But thanks to the “treasure” they had another chance to become mothers once they were healed: 44 sought pregnancy through cryopreserved oocytes and 15 successfully completed the pregnancy, practically one in three. Others have tried but the first attempt was unsuccessful, they still trust in the other oocytes available. In fact, there is no deadline: “If stored correctly they can survive even 20-30 years: the egg that 10 years ago belonged to a 28-year-old girl is still 28 years old today,” says Dr. Porcu. In theory, the oocytes can be used when you want but this does not mean being able to postpone the moment of pregnancy indefinitely: “We must still try to have a child at an age compatible with our physiology – explains Dr. Porcu -. But the possibility of “stopping time” is also very important for all those women who, even if not rendered sterile by the disease, have less chance of becoming mothers due to their age ». It is a rematch, the happy ending after so much suffering.