Compared to the world literature, the most common cause of premature ovarian failure in this study was chemotherapy induced, especially in young girls undergoing bone marrow transplantation. This is due to high prevalence of transplantable hereditary haematological disorders like thalassemia and sickle-cell disease in this part of the world. Current standard of care recommends cryopreservation of ovarian tissue to preserve ovarian function in young girls undergoing bone marrow transplantation for such disorders.

Background: Improved chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment protocols, fortunately, increased the rates of cancer survivors over the years. However, these treatments may result in infertility or subfertility. Oncologists are considered the gateway for knowledge about cancer and its treatments’ effects. Several studies showed that many oncologists do not discuss fertility preservation with their patients. This study aimed to explore the perspective of oncologists in Oman on fertility preservation. Methods: A cross-sectional study of physicians and surgeons dealing with patients with cancer was conducted from June 2021 to December 2021. A standardized and validated questionnaire was used to collect data. Results: Participants reported that they are knowledgeable about sperm cryopreservation and gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists use but not other methods of fertility preservation. About 94% of the participants reported that they need more knowledge about fertility preservation. More than half of the participants had never encountered cancer patients who used ovarian cryopreservation, testicular tissue cryopreservation, in vitro fertilization with embryo cryopreservation and oocyte cryopreservation. The majority (78%) agreed that discussing fertility preservation with newly diagnosed cancer patients is a high priority. Conclusions: Oncologists in Oman are supportive of fertility preservation. The lack of knowledge and unavailability of well-structured fertility preservation services in Oman hinders the initiation of fertility preservation discussions.

Background: Discontinuation of hormonal contraceptives is an important contributor to unmet need of contraception. Aims: To determine the discontinuation rate and the reasons for discontinuation of hormonal contraception among Omani women. Methods: This was a 2-stage sampling, multicentre, retrospective cohort study conducted in 2018 at primary health care centres in Muscat Region, Oman. It included newly registered users of hormonal contraceptives in birth spacing clinics from January to December 2016 and the course of care over the following 12 months. A telephone interview was conducted to complement some of the missing data. The contraceptive methods available were combined oral contraceptives, progesterone only pills and injectable depot medroxyprogesterone acetate. Results: We included 404 women and 87.8% were breast-feeding. By the end of the first year, (268; 66.3%) women discontinued their contraceptive method. More than half (55.2% 148/268) of the discontinuation was attributed to adverse effects and the most prevalent was menstrual abnormality (102/268; 38.1%). Only 5.6% (15/268) discontinued contraception because they desired pregnancy. Partners and logistics of availability and access played a minimal role in discontinuation. Age and number of children did not influence the discontinuation rate. Conclusion: This study improves our knowledge about the rate of discontinuation of hormonal contraception and its related factors in Oman, which can be used for population-specific counselling. Future research should study the contraception behaviour of breast-feeding women to assess when and why they discontinue their contraceptive methods.

The most common benign tumor was teratoma but laparoscopic approach, which is the standard of care in these women, was possible only in just about 50% of the women.

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