Waltham Study: Possible Breakthrough For Transgender Families

WALTHAM, MA — A fertility clinic based in Waltham announced Tuesday a potentially game-changing study for some LGBTQ families. After analyzing eight years of data, researchers at the clinic found that people born female can still have children, even after undergoing testosterone treatment to become male.

It had been previously theorized that transgender men must undergo egg freezing before initiating any hormonal therapy to have a baby. Boston IVF's transgender fertility clinical study - the first of its kind - shows that trans men who utilize egg freezing for fertility preservation have similarly successful clinical outcomes to those of cisgender patients.

"Our study found that even long periods of gender-affirming androgen therapy did not appear to have a negative effect on ovarian stimulation outcomes," said Boston IVF Reproductive Endocrinologist Nina Resetkova in a statement. "Based on these results, our goal is to continue encouraging patients to evaluate their options before starting testosterone therapy – but also reassure individuals that if you are on hormones – you still have good options to preserve your fertility or start a family."

The study, based on eight years of data from 26 patients who went through treatment at the facility, was published in the peer reviewed medical journal "Fertility and Sterility."

"It gives a basic idea to somebody who's never treated a trans patient before about what they may be able to offer and it really allows us to understand this is a reasonable treatment strategy," she said.

Resetkova said 53 trans people sought treatment during that time frame, but only the 26 went through with it at their clinic.

"What that really shed light on is that there's not necessarily a lot of trans patients who are being referred," she said. "Another obstacle is perceived access to care."

More than one-half the transgender male patients had been on testosterone therapy before undergoing ovarian stimulation cycles, and all had discontinued testosterone for an average of four months before starting their treatment cycle.

Even though the study sample was only 26 people, the Boston IVF study is the largest to investigate the clinical results of transgender male patients undergoing fertility preservation, and compared that to cisgender female patients.

It found that trans men who had begun the transition process via testosterone therapy had similar egg yields as those of cisgender female patients.

"For young patients looking to transition, there needs to be more support and knowledge offered when it comes to their reproductive options for the future," said Boston IVF reproductive endocrinologist Samuel Pang in a statement. "We hope that studies like ours will assist providers in counseling transgender individuals, to inform them that they have a great chance to have children through assisted reproductive technologies."

• See previous clinical trials by Boston IVF.