Ovary transplant pregnancy first

[CShine]

A woman has become pregnant after having an ovary tissue transplant for the first time, it has emerged. The breakthrough gives hopes to thousands of cancer patients whose treatment can make them infertile. It may also potentially help women who want to give themselves another chance at motherhood after the menopause.

Doctors from Universite Catholique de Louvain in Brussels are treating the woman. News of her pregnancy was revealed at the European Fertility Conference in Berlin. The baby, a girl, who was conceived naturally, is due at the beginning of October.

Doctors across the world have been working to achieve a successful pregnancy in ovarian transplant patients. Other teams have been able to create embryos, and have attempted to help women become pregnant through using IVF. But this is the first time a successful pregnancy has occurred in a woman who has had an ovary transplant.

The patient, who is 32, was diagnosed with advanced Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1997. Prior to chemotherapy, some of her ovarian tissue was removed and frozen. One ovary was left inside her body. When she was declared cancer-free in April 2003, the ovarian tissue was transplanted back into her body, just below her existing ovary. Four months later, she was found to be menstruating and ovulating normally. She is now around 25 weeks pregnant.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3850381.stm