Doctor on cutting edge of new developments in fertility

Dr. Ariel Revel is fascinated by fertility.

A member of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital in Jerusalem, Revel has been working on fertility in cancer patients since 2000. Recently, he spoke at the Ector County Medical Society meeting at Odessa Country Club.

"We're very much interested in preserving the ovaries of young women about to undergo cancer treatment," Revel said in an interview. He does this by freezing the woman's ovaries and later retransplanting them.

"The basic idea of this research is to find methods to preserve the fertility of young cancer patients," he said.

While it kills cancer, chemotherapy also kills a woman's eggs and the eggs don't regenerate the way hair or blood cells do after treatment, he said. This is especially frequent in patients undergoing treatment for leukemia and sarcomas.

"There are currently about one million cancer patients in the United States whose fertility issues are significant, meaning they will need (alternative) methods to have children artificially," Revel said.

At his hospital, about 100 women have preserved their ovaries to be retransplanted after cancer treatment.

"I believe this is a very significant issue, both for medical purposes É (and) in my cases it also has important psychological impact," because both the woman and her family know she may be able to have children in the future, he said. This tends to allow the woman to tolerate treatment "a lot better."

Revel was in Odessa last week as part of "Mediscope," an annual health information series focusing on the most current medical advances in Israel. His presentation last week was sponsored by Medical Center Hospital, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the Ector County Medical Society and Ector County Medical Society Alliance. The title was "Medicine in the Eye of the Storm: Cutting-Edge Research and Patient Care at Hadassah Hospital."

"Fertility to me is the most fascinating field in medicine," Revel said. "I think the field requires a deep knowledge of biology. It's at the forefront of medical and scientific knowledge and there are always new techniques."

It also interests him because it helps patients create a family -- "something that gives me lots of strength and happiness in the work that I do."

"In our life, in history, we have seen a lot of death, a lot of disease. The possibility to create life is something not possible in any other field. It is truly making life. Many patients would have no children without our help today."