Appendix 1. Glossary

Amenorrhea: the absence of a menstrual period in a women of reproductive age.

Aromatase enzyme: protein important for the synthesis of oestrogens.

Bias: a deviation from the expected value.

Composite measure: measurement based on multiple data items.

Cox proportional hazards model: a regression model used for investigating the association between the survival time of patients and one or more predictor variables.

Cryopreservation: a process where cells or tissues are preserved by cooling to very low temperatures.

Granulosa cell: also called follicular cell, a somatic, supportive cell of the sex cord that is closely associated with the developing female egg cell.

Hazard ratio: a measure of an effect of an intervention on an outcome of interest over time indicating the probability that an individual would experience an event at a particular given point in time after the intervention, assuming that this individual has survived to that particular point of time without experiencing any event.

Heterogeneity: the degree of uniformity.

Kaplan Meier analyses: non‐parametric statistic used to estimate the survival function from lifetime data.

Log‐rank statistic: hypothesis test to compare the survival distribution of two samples.

Oocyte: immature female egg cell.

Ovarian failure: the loss of function of the ovaries.

Primordial follicle: first stage vesicle containing an immature egg cell and granulosa cells.

PRISMA flow chart: diagram that depicts the flow of information through the different phases of a systematic review.

RCT: Randomised controlled trial

Risk ratio: also called relative risk, the ratio of the probability of an event occurring in an exposed group to the probability of the event occurring in a comparison, non‐exposed group.

Sensitivity analysis: the study of how the uncertainty in the results can be apportioned to different sources of uncertainty in its input data.

Theca cells: group of endocrine cells in the ovary surrounding the follicle supporting the development of egg cells.

WHO: World Health Organization

Appendix 2. Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility (CGF) specialised register search strategy

Search from inception to present

PROCITE platform

Keywords CONTAINS "fertility preservation" or Title CONTAINS "fertility preservation"

Appendix 3. CENTRAL Register of Studies Online (CRSO)

Search from inception

Web platform

#1 MESH DESCRIPTOR Neoplasms EXPLODE ALL TREES

#2 neoplasm*:TI,AB,KY

#3 cancer*:TI,AB,KY

#4 tumo?r*:TI,AB,KY

#5 carcinoma*:TI,AB,KY

#6 #1 OR #2 OR #3 OR #4 OR #5

#7 MESH DESCRIPTOR Fertility Preservation EXPLODE ALL TREES

#8 (fertility adj2 preserv*):TI,AB,KY

#9 (ovar* adj2 protect*):TI,AB,KY

#10 (ovar* adj2 preserv*):TI,AB,KY

#11 (premenopaus* or young women):TI,AB,KY

#12 #7 OR #8 OR #9 OR #10 OR #11

#13 MESH DESCRIPTOR Ovulation Induction EXPLODE ALL TREES

#14 (ovulat* adj2 induc*):TI,AB,KY

#15 (ovar* adj2 hyper stimulat*):TI,AB,KY

#16 superovulat*:TI,AB,KY

#17 (ovar* adj2 stimulat*):TI,AB,KY

#18 MESH DESCRIPTOR Aromatase Inhibitors EXPLODE ALL TREES

#19 MESH DESCRIPTOR Tamoxifen EXPLODE ALL TREES

#20 letrozole:TI,AB,KY

#21 tamoxifen:TI,AB,KY

#22 MESH DESCRIPTOR In Vitro Oocyte Maturation Techniques EXPLODE ALL TREES9

#23 (in vitro maturation or IVM):TI,AB,KY

#24 #13 OR #14 OR #15 OR #16 OR #17 OR #18 OR #19 OR #20 OR #21 OR #22 OR #23

#25 (ovar* adj2 suppress*):TI,AB,KY

#26 (ovulat* adj2 suppress*):TI,AB,KY

#27 (endocrine therap*):TI,AB,KY

#28 MESH DESCRIPTOR Gonadotropin‐Releasing Hormone EXPLODE ALL TREES

#29 (gonadotrop?in releasing hormone agonist*):TI,AB,KY

#30 (gonadotrop?in releasing hormone analog*):TI,AB,KY

#31 (GnRH a or GnRHa or GnRH agonist*):TI,AB,KY

#32 (goserelin or leuprolide or triptorelin):TI,AB,KY

#33 (lupron or Zoladex):TI,AB,KY

#34 (luteinizing hormone releasing hormone agonist*):TI,AB,KY

#35 (LHRH agonist*):TI,AB,KY

#36 (LHRH a or GnRH analog*):TI,AB,KY

#37 #25 OR #26 OR #27 OR #28 OR #29 OR #30 OR #31 OR #32 OR #33 OR #34 OR #35 OR #36

#38 #24 OR #37

#39 #6 AND #12 AND #38

Appendix 4. MEDLINE search strategy

Search from 1946 to present

Ovid platform

1 exp Ovulation Induction/
2 (ovulat* adj2 induc*).tw.
3 (ovar* adj2 hyperstimulat*).tw.
4 (ovar* adj2 hyper stimulat*).tw.
5 (ovar* adj2 stimulat*).tw.
6 exp Tamoxifen/
7 exp Aromatase Inhibitors/
8 letrozole.tw.
9 tamoxifen.tw.
10 exp In Vitro Oocyte Maturation Techniques/
11 (in vitro maturation or IVM).tw.
12 or/1‐11
13 (ovar* adj2 suppress*).tw.
14 (ovulat* adj2 suppress*).tw.
15 endocrine therap*.tw.
16 gonadotropin‐releasing hormone/ or goserelin/ or leuprolide/ or triptorelin pamoate/
17 gonadotrop?in releasing hormone agonist*.tw.
18 (GnRH a or GnRHa or GnRH agonist*).tw.
19 (goserelin or leuprolide or triptorelin).tw.
20 (lupron or Zoladex).tw.
21 luteinizing hormone releasing hormone agonist*.tw.
22 LHRH agonist*.tw.
23 (LHRH a or GnRH analog*).tw.
24 or/13‐23
25 12 or 24
26 exp Neoplasms/
27 neoplasm*.tw.
28 cancer*.tw.
29 tumo?r*.tw.
30 carcinoma*.tw.
31 or/26‐30
32 25 and 31
33 Fertility Preservation/
34 (fertility adj2 preserv*).tw.
35 (ovar* adj2 protect*).tw.
36 (ovar* adj2 preserv*).tw.
37 (premenopaus* or young women).tw.
38 33 or 34 or 35 or 36 or 37
39 32 and 38
40 randomized controlled trial.pt.
41 controlled clinical trial.pt.
42 randomized.ab.
43 randomised.ab.
44 placebo.tw.
45 clinical trials as topic.sh.
46 randomly.ab.
47 trial.ti.
48 (crossover or cross‐over or cross over).tw.
49 or/40‐48
50 exp animals/ not humans.sh.
51 49 not 50
52 39 and 51

Appendix 5. Embase search strategy

Search from 1980 to present

Ovid platform

1 exp malignant neoplasm/
2 neoplasm*.tw.
3 tumo?r*.tw.
4 cancer*.tw.
5 carcinoma*.tw.
6 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5
7 exp fertility preservation/
8 (fertility adj2 preserv*).tw.
9 (ovar* adj2 protect*).tw.
10 (ovar* adj2 preserv*).tw.
11 (premenopaus* and ovar*).tw.
12 (premenopaus* and fertil*).tw.
13 (premenopaus* and ovulat*).tw.
14 (premenopaus* and infertil*).tw.
15 (premenopaus* and protect*).tw.
16 (premenopaus* and preserv*).tw.
17 (young women and fertil*).tw.
18 (young women and ovar*).tw.
19 (young women and ovulat*).tw.
20 (young women and infertil*).tw.
21 (young women and protect*).tw.
22 (young women and preserv*).tw.
23 or/7‐22
24 6 and 23
25 Clinical Trial/
26 Randomized Controlled Trial/
27 exp randomization/
28 Single Blind Procedure/
29 Double Blind Procedure/
30 Crossover Procedure/
31 Placebo/
32 Randomi?ed controlled trial$.tw.
33 Rct.tw.
34 random allocation.tw.
35 randomly.tw.
36 randomly allocated.tw.
37 allocated randomly.tw.
38 (allocated adj2 random).tw.
39 Single blind$.tw.
40 Double blind$.tw.
41 ((treble or triple) adj blind$).tw.
42 placebo$.tw.
43 prospective study/
44 or/25‐43
45 case study/
46 case report.tw.
47 abstract report/ or letter/
48 or/45‐47
49 44 not 48
50 (exp animal/ or animal.hw. or nonhuman/) not (exp human/ or human cell/ or (human or humans).ti.)
51 49 not 50
52 24 and 51

Appendix 6. PsycINFO search strategy

Search from 1806 to present

Ovid platform

1 exp Neoplasms/
2 neoplasm*.tw.
3 cancer*.tw.
4 (carcinoma or tumo?r).tw.
5 1 or 2 or 3 or 4
6 exp Fertility/
7 (fertility adj2 preserv*).tw.
8 (ovar* adj2 protect*).tw.
9 (ovar* adj2 preserv*).tw.
10 (fertil* adj2 protect*).tw.
11 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10
12 5 and 11
13 random*.ti,ab,hw,id.
14 trial*.ti,ab,hw,id.
15 controlled stud*.ti,ab,hw,id.
16 placebo*.ti,ab,hw,id.
17 ((singl* or doubl* or trebl* or tripl*) and (blind* or mask*)).ti,ab,hw,id.
18 (cross over or crossover or factorial* or latin square).ti,ab,hw,id.
19 (assign* or allocat* or volunteer*).ti,ab,hw,id.
20 treatment effectiveness evaluation/
21 mental health program evaluation/
22 exp experimental design/
23 or/13‐22
24 12 and 23

Appendix 7. CINAHL search strategy

Search from 1961 to present

Ebsco platform