Woman gives birth to two babies in separate pregnancies after ovarian transplant

Danish researchers reported this week on the first woman to give birth to two healthy babies in separate pregnancies after her fertility was restored using transplanted ovarian tissue that was removed and frozen before her cancer treatment and then replaced.

The woman, Stinne Holm Bergholdt, gave birth to her second baby in September 2008 after conceiving naturally. Her first baby was born in February 2007, after she received fertility treatment.

Mrs Bergholdt’s doctor Claus Yding Andersen, professor in human reproductive physiology at the University Hospital of Copenhagen, Denmark, said, “This is the first time in the world that a woman has had two children from separate pregnancies as a result of transplanting frozen/thawed ovarian tissue.” (Hum Reprod J doi:10/1093/humrep/deq033)

He suggested, “These results support cryopreservation of ovarian tissue as a valid method of fertility preservation and should encourage the development of this technique as a clinical procedure …