Successful conception in a 34-year-old lupus patient following spontaneous pregnancy after autotransplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue.

Premature gonadal failure is a common problem in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) when gonadotoxic therapies are applied. The preservation of gonadal function and fertility is of great importance to many predominantly young SLE patients. Some fertility preservation methods are well established and well known, whereas others are considered more cautiously. In particular, the cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is a rarely chosen fertility preservation option for SLE patients of (pre)fertile age. We report the first case of successful conception and pregnancy of an SLE patient after autotransplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue. A 26-year-old SLE patient decided to undergo cryopreservation of ovarian tissue when receiving cyclophosphamide for lupus nephritis. Tissue removal, preparation, cryopreservation and quality control was performed, as described, according to current state-of-the-art techniques. After 6 years of being in remission using azathioprine and belimumab, her ovarian tissue was autotransplanted because of premature ovarian failure, diagnosed at the age of 32, and a wish to conceive. She conceived spontaneously 8 months later, having a diamniotic-dichoriotic twin pregnancy. The children were born prematurely due to preterm premature rupture of membranes in the 32nd week of gestation; mother and children are doing very well 8 months later. We regard the procedure to be an option worth consideration for our predominantly young SLE patients.

[Diminished increase in body length in rats as an indicator of toxic injuries]. / Vermindertes Längenwachstum von Ratten als Hinweis auf toxische Schädigungen.

In four subchronic and three chronic toxicity studies in rats, in which the application of pharmacologically active substances led to a reduction in body weight development, the lengths of the animals were also measured. It could be shown that a lower body weight gain was always accompanied by a reduction in body length increase. With increasing doses or higher toxicity the within-group variations of individual values were smaller and the correlation between body weight and length of the rats was generally greater.