Live birth after transplantation using ovarian tissue from childhood

Live birth after autograft of ovarian tissue cryopreserved during childhood

childhood-memories
In a world first, a woman with ovarian failure has successfully given birth to a healthy baby after receiving transplantation of ovarian tissue from her childhood. Memories of Childhood image by Amy Dianna.

A patient whose right ovary was removed as a teenager, and whose left ovary subsequently failed, has become the first woman in the world to give live birth after doctors transplanted ovarian tissue that had been frozen in her youth. Medical professionals are calling this success an “important breakthrough” in fertility treatment.

2015 Study Abstract

Ovarian insufficiency is a major long-term adverse event, following the administration of a myeloablative conditioning regimen, and occurring in >80% of children and adolescents receiving such treatment for malignant or non-malignant disease. Cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is currently offered to preserve the fertility of these young patients. At least 35 live births have been reported after transplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue in adult patients, but the procedure remains unproven for ovarian tissue harvested at a prepubertal or pubertal age.

We report here the first live birth after autograft of cryopreserved ovarian tissue in a woman with primary ovarian failure after a myeloablative conditioning regimen as part of a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation performed for homozygous sickle-cell anemia at age 14 years. This first report of successful fertility restoration after the graft of ovarian tissue cryopreserved before menarche offers reassuring evidence for the feasibility of the procedure when performed during childhood.

Sources and more information
  • Live birth after autograft of ovarian tissue cryopreserved during childhood, Oxford Journals Medicine & Health Human Reproduction, doi: 10.1093/humrep/dev128, June 9, 2015.
  • Woman gives birth after transplantation using ovarian tissue from childhood, by Marie Ellis for Medical News Today, 10 June 2015.

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