Woman gives birth after transplant of ovarian tissue
Source: AP
By MARIA CHENG
LONDON (AP) — A woman who had ovarian tissue removed and frozen during childhood has given birth to a baby after the tissue was successfully transplanted back into her, enabling her to get pregnant.
The woman, now 27, was only 13 when doctors stored some of her tissue because she was about to have a medical treatment that likely would leave her infertile. Doctors described her case as the first time tissue was removed from someone so young and ultimately led to the birth of a healthy baby.
Born in the Republic of Congo, the woman was diagnosed with sickle-cell anemia, a serious blood disorder, when she was five. She was not identified by the doctors. At age 11, she and her family moved to Belgium and the girl was so sick her doctors gave her a bone marrow transplant from her brother.
Chemotherapy is sometimes used to help stimulate blood production in children with sickle cell anemia, but it risks damaging the ovaries. So the doctors removed part of her right ovary when she was 13 and froze several fragments. The girl hadn't started menstruating but there were other signs she had begun puberty.
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Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4c6ba148ea94470999fb8cdeace4d91c/woman-gives-birth-after-transplant-ovarian-tissue
