"Miracle" of double ovary transplant success

Thursday February 25th, 2010

A mother is celebrating the remarkable birth of her second baby following revolutionary ovarian transplant treatment.

Stinne Bergholdt was one of the first women to have her ovaries restored after having them frozen before having cancer treatment.

Her first daughter Aviaja was then born following fertility treatment.

But her second daughter Lucca, now 17 months old, was born through natural conception - making hers the most successful ovarian transplant to date, she reveals today. Lucca and Aviaja are among just nine children born world-wide following the procedure.

Mrs Bergholdt, aged 32, from Odense, Denmark, is one of the authors of a report on her story published in the journal Human Reproduction today.

She said Lucca's arrival was "quite a surprise".

She said: "We thought we needed assistance like the first time. We had an appointment at the fertility outpatient clinic to talk about the possibility of a second baby, but it turned out that I was already pregnant, naturally.

"It was a very nice surprise to find out that my body was now functioning normally and that we were having a baby without having to go through the fertility treatment. It was indeed a miracle!"

Her doctor Professor Claus Yding Andersen, of the University Hospital of Copenhagen, Denmark, said it was "amazing" that the transplanted ovaries had worked for so long.

He said: "It is an amazing fact that these ovarian strips have been working for so long and it provides information on how powerful this technique can be."

Professor Anderson said it was thought ovarian tissue could be frozen for up to 40 years.

He said it "should encourage the development of this technique as a clinical procedure for girls and young women facing treatment that could damage their ovaries."

Human Reproduction Journal. doi:10/1093/humrep/deq033

Tags: Childbirth and Pregnancy | Europe | Women’s Health & Gynaecology

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