For the first time ever, a woman who had her ovaries removed seven years ago, is now pregnant with twins, according to The Guardian.
This achievement by Australian doctors and scientists is a first and it has helped a woman become pregnant even after her ovaries were removed during cancer treatment, by grafting frozen tissue on her abdominal wall.
Researchers from the Melbourne IVF and the Royal Women's hospital have finally given hope to cancer survivors who develop menopause post treatment, after achieving the world's first pregnancy from the process.
Vali, 24, from Brisbane asked her doctors before undergoing surgery that her second ovary also be removed. The woman, whose surname was not disclosed for privacy asked her doctors to also preserve her ovarian tissue just in case it was possible to graft it back in the future.
She expressed that it had been "pretty confronting" to have found out that a very young age that she might not be able to have children. "It didn't really hit me until I was 24 and I had to make some serious decisions about my healthcare then," said Vali. "I was really lucky with my doctors. I was able to have this opportunity even though I didn't really know anything about it."
Vali and her partner, Dean, moved to Melbourne so she could undergo the treatment.
"We checked the tissue again, checked with her surgeon, made sure that everything was OK and spoke with oncologist, talked with her about the risks," said associate professor, Kate Stern, head of fertility preservation at Melbourne IVF.
"The tissue was put back in the front wall of her abdomen, so that means it's under the skin and the muscle but not inside the abdomen. We wanted to see if this might help her get pregnant. Then we gave her some very gentle hormone stimulation - not the full-on IVF," Stern added.
