ESPE Abstracts

Context: Turner Syndrome (TS) is associated with ovarian dysgenesis leading to infertility in most of the cases. There are some options for fertility preservation in patients with sufficient follicle numbers. The most recently studied are oocyte preservation and ovarian tissue preservation. Due to premature ovarian failure among TS girls, the procedure should be performed as early as possible.

The aim of this study is to gain the opinions of women with TS about motherhood based on the web-survey.

Material and methods: A web-based questionnaire was designed and submitted to online forums for women with TS. One version was offered to women with TS living in Poland (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoo7E40aVgOOiMClFEucKC0NNvXld6JuPmLtq4vFpp5-2nBQ/viewform), while another was offered to international respondents (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScIYv1eIHe19vZX_sW4rayFFAsJHfiBu0qSJj93d5tGsEkezw/viewform). The questionnaire was administered to women with TS who were over the age of 18 years. It consisted of 12 questions: 11 were single choice, while the other was multiple choice. The participants anonymously completed and submitted the questionnaires, thereby agreeing to the use of their data for study purposes.

Results: A total of 98 women (37 from USA, 20 from Poland, 19 from UK and Ireland) with TS answered the questions. Asked if they had motherhood options discussed with physicians 41 (41.8%) of participants responded negatively. 16 (16.3%) respondents do not want to have children, 58 (59.2%) would like to have children, 21 (21.4) have some (biological or adopted) and 3 (3.1%) do not know yet. Asked about the will of use ovarian tissues if they had been preserved in the adolescence 50 (51.0%) Respondents would be interested in such procedure, 22 (22.5%) would not be, and 26 (26.5%) do not know. Among 79 women who previously had expressed a desire of having children 48 (60.8%) would use preserved cells, 13 (16.4%) would not and 18 (22.8%) do not know.

Conclusions: The most of women with TS who would like to have children would use preserved cells if they had such option. Therefore the further investigation of fertility preservation among TS patients is necessary.