Ovarian transplantation may help infertile women

A young woman who has been treated with chemotherapy, has conceived a baby for the first time after having an ovarian tissue transplant, according to reports released Tuesday.

Doctors from the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Brussels removed and froze ovarian tissue from the unidentified woman before she had treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She is now 25 weeks pregnant.

Scientists, who described the treatment as "stunning", said it would give hope to thousands of young women cancer sufferers who face being left infertile by treatment for their disease.

According to news.independent.co.uk, more than 18,000 women in Britain under the age of 44 are diagnosed with cancer each year, and 75 per cent of them become infertile after treatment. Simon Davies, the chief executive of the Teenage Cancer Trust, said: "This is great news - it is fantastic. It is a new opportunity that is going to be worthwhile for cancer patients, especially younger ones, and will give them choices in the future."

The results of the study were presented at the annual meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology.