A 27-year-old woman became the first in the world to give birth thanks to a autograft ovarian tissue collected and frozen when she was still a child.
This world first is detailed in the review Human Reproduction and was carried out by a research team from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
If there are at least 35 births worldwide following an autologous transplant of ovarian tissue, it had previously been performed in adult women. Thus, the ability of immature ovarian tissue to produce viable oocytes was yet to be proven.
In this patient from the Republic of Congo, sickle cell anemia (or sickle cell anemia, presenting sickle-shaped red blood cells) was diagnosed when she was only 5 years old. After his emigration to Belgium at the age of 11, the doctors decided to proceed with a bone marrow transplant in view of the severity of his disease. In order to avoid rejection of the marrow transplant from her brother, the young woman underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment. However, these treatments can destroy the functioning of the ovaries permanently.
Thus, so that the young woman could one day hope to give birth in a natural way, Belgian doctors removed her right ovary when she was 13 years and eleven months old, just before proceeding with the treatments. Still inactive in the absence of menstruation, her right ovary was broken into small fragments and frozen. The left ovary left in place subsequently proved to be failing. The marrow transplant was a success.
Ten years later, the young woman expressed the desire to have a child. Hoping to restore her fertility, doctors thawed some of her ovarian tissue and re-implanted four pieces of it on the left ovary that was left in place. These tissues were successful in producing mature oocytes. Two years after this transplant, the young woman finally managed to get pregnant, and gave birth to a boy weighing over 3kg in perfect health. What give hope to all the little girls on the verge of receiving harmful treatments for their ovaries.
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