Australian Woman Pregnant After Pioneering Ovarian Transplant
An Australian woman is pregnant after undergoing a pioneering operation in which ovarian tissue was transplanted into her abdomen.
The patient, known as Vali, had been rendered infertile by ovarian cancer treatment but was able to grow new eggs from healthy ovarian tissue grafted onto her abdominal wall.
She is now almost 26 weeks' pregnant with twins after two eggs were collected, fertilised and implanted using a standard IVF technique.
Doctors said the new technique could revolutionise fertility treatment by allowing women to preserve their fertility by storing samples of ovarian tissue.
More than 20 people worldwide have undergone ovarian tissue transplants, but the latest operation is the first to successfully transplant the tissue into a different area of the body.
The transplant used Vali's own ovarian tissue, a sample of which was taken from her cancer-free ovary and frozen before her treatment.
Because she no longer had any ovaries following her treatment, doctors at Melbourne IVF and the Royal Melbourne Hospital grafted it onto the left and right sides of the front wall of her abdomen.
Hormone treatments were used to produce follicles and two eggs from the tissue, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Doctors at the hospital said they would now create an emergency centre which stores ovarian tissue from young women about to undergo medical treatments which could make them infertile.
It has already collected tissue from 300 women who it says could now have the option of becoming pregnant.
Prof Kate Stern, Vali's fertility specialist, said: "We have proven that ovarian tissue can still work and function normally outside the pelvis, which is its normal environment.
"For patients who have severe pelvic disease where we can't put the tissue back, we can now offer these patients the realistic chance of getting pregnant."
Nick Collins - telegraph.co.uk
