Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Feb 9;3(2):153-156.
doi: 10.1016/j.xfre.2022.02.002. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Fertility preservation in transgender men without discontinuation of testosterone

Brett A Stark  1 , Evelyn Mok-Lin  1
Affiliations

Fertility preservation in transgender men without discontinuation of testosterone

Brett A Stark et al. F S Rep. .

Abstract

Objective: To report two cases of fertility preservation in two transgender men without an extended period of higher dose testosterone cessation.

Design: Chart abstraction was completed for two cases of oocyte preservation in transgender men without stopping testosterone gender-affirming therapy before controlled ovarian stimulation (COS).

Setting: A university-affiliated fertility clinic in San Francisco, California.

Patients: Two 27-year-old transgender men on higher dose testosterone undergoing oocyte cryopreservation.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main outcome measures: Both patients had been on 6 and 20 months of testosterone therapy, respectively, and continued throughout COS. A random start antagonist plus letrozole protocol was used for the patient in case 1, with a leuprolide acetate trigger. A luteal start antagonist protocol was applied to the patient in case 2 with a leuprolide acetate trigger.

Results: In case 1, a total of 35 oocytes were retrieved, with a total of 23 metaphase II (MII) oocytes cryopreserved. An additional 7 MII oocytes were obtained after in vitro maturation for a total of 30 MII oocytes that were vitrified. In case 2, 14 oocytes were retrieved, and 9 mature oocytes (MII) were vitrified.

Conclusions: Transgender men have historically been advised to discontinue testosterone before COS, a process that may be distressing for many individuals. This is the first published case report demonstrating the proof of concept of COS without cessation of high-dose testosterone therapy in two transgender men. Future studies with larger sample sizes should be performed to confirm these findings.

Keywords: Fertility preservation; oocyte preservation; ovarian stimulation; testosterone; transgender.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Coleman E., Bockting W., Botzer M., Cohen-Kettenis P., DeCuypere G., Feldman J., et al. Standards of care for the health of transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming people, Version 7. Int J Transgend. 2012;13:165–232.
    1. De Roo C., Tilleman K., T’Sjoen G., De Sutter P. Fertility options in transgender people. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2016;28:112–119. - PubMed
    1. Light A.D., Obedin-Maliver J., Sevelius J.M., Kerns J.L. Transgender men who experienced pregnancy after female-to-male gender transitioning. Obstet Gynecol. 2014;124:1120–1127. - PubMed
    1. Armuand G., Dhejne C., Olofsson J.I., Rodriguez-Wallberg K.A. Transgender men’s experiences of fertility preservation: a qualitative study. Hum Reprod. 2017;32:383–390. - PubMed
    1. Wierckx K., Elaut E., Van Hoorde B., Heylens G., De Cuypere G., Monstrey S., et al. Sexual desire in trans persons: associations with sex reassignment treatment. J Sex Med. 2014;11:107–118. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources