For years, egg freezing has dominated the conversation around fertility preservation. However, a growing number of reproductive specialists now believe that ovarian tissue freezing—an outpatient surgical procedure that involves removing and preserving a portion of a woman’s ovarian tissue—could be a superior alternative, particularly for younger women or those undergoing medical treatments like chemotherapy.

Unlike egg freezing, which requires hormonal stimulation over several weeks, ovarian tissue freezing can be completed quickly, even in children who haven’t yet reached puberty. And new data is backing up its promise: a recent review revealed that approximately 4 out of 10 women who underwent this procedure successfully gave birth later in life.

What Is Ovarian Tissue Freezing?

Ovarian tissue freezing, also known as ovarian tissue cryopreservation, involves surgically removing a portion of one ovary—typically through a minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure—and preserving its outer shell, where thousands of immature eggs reside. This tissue is sliced into thin slivers and stored in a programmable freezer using a Slow Freezing technique that can take up to six meticulous hours in the lab.

Once the woman is ready to conceive, the tissue can be thawed and transplanted back into her body—either in the pelvis or under the skin. If successful, this transplant can restore hormonal function, trigger menstruation, and even reverse menopausal symptoms in many women.

Egg Freezing vs. Ovarian Tissue Freezing: What’s the Difference?

The numbers are compelling. A study conducted by Dr. Kutluk Oktay—who first performed the procedure in 1999—and Dr. Fernanda Pacheco reviewed data from 1999 to 2016. They found that out of 309 ovarian tissue freezing cases, 84 births were recorded, and two-thirds of patients experienced a restoration of reproductive or hormonal function.

One particularly noteworthy aspect: only about one-third of patients required IVF, while the rest were able to conceive naturally—something not possible with frozen eggs. The tissue appears to create a more natural ovarian environment, increasing the chance of spontaneous conception.

Initially developed as a fertility-preserving option for cancer patients, especially children who cannot undergo egg retrieval, ovarian tissue freezing is increasingly being considered for healthy women wanting to delay childbirth. According to Dr. Oktay, the procedure’s ability to reverse menopause, preserve hormonal function, and restore natural fertility makes it a holistic approach to reproductive longevity.

In fact, many women undergo ovarian tissue freezing when there’s insufficient time for ovarian stimulation or when the ovaries are at risk of being damaged by cancer treatment. Unlike egg retrieval, which can delay urgent therapies, this method provides a faster and potentially more versatile solution.

Egg freezing typically yields about 10 to 15 eggs per cycle. In contrast, a single procedure of ovarian tissue extraction can preserve hundreds or even thousands of eggs in their immature form, providing a much larger reservoir of fertility potential. This makes the procedure more cost-effective in the long run and potentially reduces the number of interventions a woman might need.

Moreover, with ovarian tissue, there’s no need for the hormonal stimulation that egg freezing requires—saving both time and the physical side effects that some women experience.

How Does the Transplant Work?

Once a woman is ready to conceive, the frozen tissue can be thawed and transplanted using two primary techniques developed by Dr. Oktay:

Pelvic Transplantation: Here, tissue is grafted near the remaining ovary or on the pelvic wall using a biodegradable scaffold. It reconnects with the surrounding blood vessels over 2–10 days, though some egg loss (over 50%) can occur during this period.

Heterotopic (Under-the-Skin) Transplantation: This is used when the pelvis isn’t viable due to radiation or scarring. It’s performed under local anesthesia in the IVF lab—making it less invasive—but it does require IVF for conception.

So far, about 20 live births have been recorded from pelvic ovarian transplants. Under-the-skin grafts are still in their experimental phase, though promising embryo development has been reported.

Is Ovarian Tissue Freezing Affordable?

Fertility preservation isn’t cheap. However, ovarian tissue freezing may offer more value for money. Ovarian tissue freezing costs approximately $10,000, while egg freezing can run upwards of $20,000 or more depending on the number of cycles needed.

Given that a single ovarian tissue extraction can preserve significantly more eggs than traditional retrieval, this newer method may also reduce the long-term financial burden for women who may need multiple rounds of egg retrieval.

Can You Conceive Naturally After a Transplant?

Yes, but with caution. After pelvic transplantation, women can conceive naturally if their fallopian tubes are intact and functional. However, since transplanted ovaries may not last as long as natural ones, doctors often recommend IVF to speed up conception and avoid exhausting the finite egg supply in the graft.

While ovarian tissue freezing is still technically considered experimental, the clinical data and real-world success stories are making it a strong contender in fertility preservation. Its ability to not only safeguard fertility but also reverse menopause, restore hormonal balance, and offer natural pregnancy potential makes it far more than just an alternative to egg freezing, it could be the future of reproductive medicine.

Laughing gas or nitrous oxide is making headlines not for its role in dental clinics or surgical procedures, but as a potential treatment for depression. Once only considered a part of short-term anaesthetics used to relieve pain or anxiety during surgical procedures, like childbirth, nitrous oxide is now gaining attention in the world of mental health research for its potential to alleviate symptoms of depression, especially in people who have not responded to traditional treatments.

Even A Low Dose Of Laughing Gas Provides Rapid Relief From Depression

Several studies in recent years have shown that even a low dose of laughing gas can provide rapid relief from depressive symptoms. Unlike conventional antidepressants, which can take weeks to show results, nitrous oxide has demonstrated an almost immediate impact in some patients. Scientists believe this fast-acting effect could be a game-changer in managing treatment-resistant depression.

How Was The Research Conducted?

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Chicago conducted clinical trials on people with severe depression who had not responded well to typical medications. Participants were given a single one-hour inhalation session of nitrous oxide. Remarkably, many reported relief from symptoms within just a few hours, and in some cases, the effects lasted for several days.

Laughing gas is thought to work differently from traditional antidepressants, which usually act on serotonin and other neurotransmitters. Nitrous oxide instead affects the NMDA receptors in the brain, which are involved in mood regulation and cognitive functions. This is similar to how ketamine—another fast-acting antidepressant—works. However, nitrous oxide has the added advantage of being less intense and more manageable in terms of side effects.

Patients who received nitrous oxide in the study experienced a noticeable reduction in their depression scores, even when given low concentrations of the gas. Researchers found that a 25% concentration of nitrous oxide was nearly as effective as the 50% dose but caused fewer side effects, such as nausea or dissociation.

Nitrous Oxide Has Advantage Over Others-Its Long Term Medical Use

One of the reasons nitrous oxide is being seriously explored as a depression treatment is its accessibility and long-standing safety profile. It has been used in medical settings for over 150 years, primarily for pain relief. Its safety, low cost, and ease of administration make it an appealing option for rapid intervention in psychiatric emergencies, particularly for those at risk of suicide.

Still, experts caution that laughing gas is not a magic bullet. While it shows promise, more research is needed to understand its long-term effects and how often it can be safely administered without causing dependency or neurological issues. It also needs to be administered under medical supervision. Mental health professionals are optimistic, though. With increasing cases of depression worldwide and many patients not responding to current treatments, the medical community is on the lookout for new and effective therapies. Laughing gas may not be the ultimate cure, but it represents a promising step forward.

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine are making significant progress toward developing a brain-computer interface (BCI) that could help people with tetraplegia (paralysis) restore their lost sense of touch. In the new study published in Nature Communications, participants explored digitally represented objects using an artificially created sense of touch. Through the interface, they described sensations as vivid as the warm fur of a purring cat, the smooth, rigid surface of a door key, and the cool roundness of an apple. This collaborative effort between the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Chicago represents a major step forward in neuroprosthetics.

Unlike earlier experiments—where artificial touch often felt like undifferentiated buzzing or tingling—this study introduced a novel feature: BCI users had control over the details of the electrical stimulation that generated their tactile sensations. By enabling participants to personalise their sensory input, scientists were able to help them recreate intuitive and meaningful experiences.

"Touch is an important part of nonverbal social communication; it is a sensation that is personal and that carries a lot of meaning," said lead author Ceci Verbaarschot, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurological surgery and biomedical engineering at the University of Texas-Southwestern and a former postdoctoral fellow at Pitt’s Rehab Neural Engineering Labs. "Designing their own sensations allows BCI users to make interactions with objects feel more realistic and meaningful, which gets us closer to creating a neuroprosthetic that feels pleasant and intuitive to use."

BCI converts Brain Activity Into Signals

A brain-computer interface converts brain activity into signals that can replace, restore, or enhance bodily functions normally controlled by the brain, such as movement. BCIs can also be used to restore lost sensations by directly stimulating the brain, essentially bypassing damaged neural pathways. Over the last decade, Pitt researchers have shown that a paralysed individual can feel sensation using a mind-controlled robotic arm. However, those sensations lacked nuance—touching a person’s hand felt no different than grasping a hard rock.

In this new study, researchers moved closer to creating a realistic, intuitive sense of touch. BCI users were able to "design" different tactile experiences for objects displayed on a screen and could identify objects based on sensation alone—though not perfectly. Participants, all of whom had lost hand sensation due to spinal cord injuries, were challenged to match stimulation settings with sensations like petting a cat or touching an apple, key, towel, or toast.

Sensations Were Subjective

Describing their sensations in rich and subjective detail, one participant noted a cat felt "warm and tappy," while another described it as "smooth and silky." Even when images were removed and participants had to rely solely on touch, they correctly identified the objects 35% of the time—better than chance. "We designed this study to shoot for the moon and made it into orbit," said senior author Robert Gaunt, Ph.D., associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Pitt. "Participants had a really hard task... and they were quite successful.

Vanellope Hope Wilkins made medical history in 2017 when she was born with her heart outside her body—a condition so rare it's described by experts as "one of a kind." Recently, she underwent a procedure wherein doctors split open her ribs to insert her heart back into her chest cavity. After the successful operation, they shared how they performed the seemingly impossible surgeries.

Born in the UK with a condition known as ectopia cordis, Vanellope underwent three major operations at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester to place her heart back inside her chest. The hospital says it knows of no other case in the UK where a baby with this condition has survived. Now seven years old, Vanellope has undergone groundbreaking surgery to reconstruct a protective cage around her heart—using her own ribs. Since then, she has worn a brace around her chest for protection.

She lives with complex medical needs and requires one-to-one care 24 hours a day. Vanellope is autistic and non-verbal, but according to her mother, Naomi Findlay, 39, from Clifton, Nottingham, she is "a happy little thing" who "brings a lot of joy and happiness." Speaking to the BBC, Naomi said she is extremely proud of the fact that her daughter has not only survived her rare medical condition but also achieved. "It makes me extremely proud to see how far she's come, what she's overcome, and what she's achieving. It's a real journey of strength and bravery... she's so brave," Naomi said, adding that saying goodbye at the theatre door before surgery is always emotional.

How Was It Done?

The surgical team carefully decided that the timing was right for this next step. Vanellope was placed on a bypass machine, which temporarily took over the function of her heart and lungs. This allowed her heart to deflate, making it easier to perform the “very tricky” procedure.

Surgeons first detached part of her heart—the right ventricular outflow tract—and the pulmonary artery from where it had fused to her skin. Then came the bilateral rib osteotomy, a procedure involving breaking her ribs on both sides. The ribs were then repositioned to create a protective cage around her heart.

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