Aussie First For Monash IVF Team

Date: Feb-12-2013In an Australian first, a woman has become pregnant after being reimplanted with ovarian tissue
she opted to have frozen 7 years earlier before treatment for cancer, according to a case report
published online today in the Medical Journal of Australia.

The woman, who was 37 when her breast cancer was found, opted for the cryopreservation
procedure before starting gonadotoxic chemotherapy which would severely reduce her chances of
falling pregnant.

At the age of 43, wishing to become pregnant but menopausal on testing, she decided to have the
preserved tissue reimplanted in her ovaries. Several months later when it became clear that she
was ovulating again, the woman underwent in-vitro fertilisation treatment, and in November of
2012 an ultrasound revealed a healthy 6-week-old fetus. She is now in her second trimester.

Professor Gabor Kovacs, International Medical Director, and colleagues from Monash IVF
announced the landmark pregnancy in the MJA, saying it was the first in Australia to occur after
both cryopreservation and autotransplantation - the process of regrafting removed tissue.
"The pregnancy reported here is one of the first 20 of its kind in the world, and only the second in a
woman successfully treated for breast cancer," they wrote.

The procedure offers new hope to women whose fertility may be threatened by cancer treatments.
"[This procedure] has the advantage that the ovarian tissue can be collected within 24 hours, no
hormones need to be administered at the time of the cancer diagnosis, and the procedure takes
less than half an hour and can be performed by any gynaecologist.

"The process at the time of cancer diagnosis is also relatively inexpensive, as it only requires an
operative laparoscopy and a few hours of a laboratory scientist's time."
The authors said the one concern with ovarian tissue reimplantation in women diagnosed with
cancer - the risk of retransplanting malignant cells - was "minimal" with breast cancer as "the tiny
pieces of ovarian tissue would be most unlikely to contain metastatic cancer cells".

"There is also a possible application of this technique in delaying or avoiding menopause", they
concluded.

Courtesy: Medical News Today Note: Any medical information available in this news section is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.