Baby Born After Frozen Ovarian Tissue Transplant

A woman has given birth to a healthy child after doctors restored her fertility by implanting ovarian tissue that had been removed and frozen while she was a child.

The success of the procedure - carried out for the first time in a girl - also raises the potential for postmenopausal women to have transplants of ovarian tissue rather than hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

The Belgian woman, whose identity has not been revealed, had one ovary removed at the age of 13 because she was about to undergo a bone marrow transplant that would leave her infertile.

She had not started her periods at the time and doctors were uncertain whether the immature tissue would be viable.

But a decade later, at the woman's request, they transplanted four fragments of ovarian tissue onto her remaining ovary.

Five months later her periods started and two years after the transplant she became pregnant naturally.

She gave birth to a boy weighing 6lbs 9oz in November 2014, according to details published in the medical journal Human Reproduction.

Dr Isabelle Demeestere, a fertility specialist at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, said: "This is an important breakthrough.

"When (children) are diagnosed with diseases that require treatment that can destroy ovarian function, freezing ovarian tissue is the only available option for preserving their fertility."

The woman's ovary continues to work normally and doctors say there is no reason why she should not have more babies if she wants to.

A further transplant of frozen material could be carried out in future if the existing tissue ceased to function.

Adam Balen, professor of reproductive medicine and surgery at the Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine, said: "There had previously been uncertainty as to whether ovarian tissue taken from young girls would later on be competent to produce mature, fertile eggs, so [this] case is both reassuring and exciting.

"We have to remember that many children who require chemotherapy are very ill and the surgery to remove ovarian tissue is no small undertaking.

"Furthermore there are only a few centres where the technology is available and this sort of treatment achievable. In years to come it will no doubt become more routine."

Simon Fishel, professor of human reproduction and president of the CARE Fertility Group, said transplants of ovarian tissue could restart hormone production in menopausal women, as an alternative to HRT.

"This case is important and highlights a future direction of human reproductive technologies," he said.

"It supports the need for the acceptance and wider development of ovarian tissue frozen storage and potential use in the future - either for fertility preservation or, indeed, a potential replacement of medication used postmenopausally."

But the Belgian researchers warn that the procedure is invasive and carries risks - and should, for now, only be used to restore fertility.

Source: SKYNews