Mother’s fertility restored with her childhood ovaries

A WOMAN who had her ovarian tissue removed and frozen while she was a child suffering a severe illness has made history by giving birth after having her fertility restored by doctors. The medical landmark is expected to give hope to seriously ill young women and girls who fear chemotherapy will hurt their chances of conceiving.

While there have been reports of successful pregnancies after ovarian tissue was removed from adults, there has been none using tissue taken from girls before puberty.

Until now, it was not clear whether such immature ovarian tissue had the ability to produce mature eggs. The young mother, who has not been named, underwent the lifesaving surgery to remove her right ovary when she was 13 after being diagnosed with blood disease sickle-cell anaemia, which required chemotherapy.

She was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo but had moved to Belgium, where she underwent the operation.

More than a decade later, doctors began to examine ways of restoring her fertility after she told counsellors she wished to become a mother. Medics led by Dr Isabelle Demeestere, a gynaecologist at Erasme Hospital in Brussels, thawed some of the frozen ovarian tissue and grafted four fragments to her remaining ovary, and 11 other fragments at other sites in the body.

The transplanted tissue started responding to her hormones and growing follicles that contained the maturing eggs. The patient began menstruating within five months.

However, she did not become pregnant until two years later – at the age of 27 – after she discovered her previous boyfriend was infertile and started a new relationship. She delivered a healthy boy in Novem- ber, weighing just under 7lb. The details are released today in the Human Reproduction journal. Dr Demeestere told The Daily Telegraph last night: ‘This is very exciting for us and even more so for the young woman.

‘She had a long and stressful medical history and this was the only way possible for her to have a family; now she is very happy and enjoying life with her baby boy.

‘The patient’s ovary continues to function normally and her doctors say there is no reason why she could not have more babies if she wants to.’ Professor Simon Fishel, president of the CARE fertility group, said: ‘This case is important and highlights a future direction of human reproductive technologies.’

Professor Adam Balen, from 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 today’s case is both reassuring and exciting.’