Reimplantation of Frozen Ovarian Tissue Restores Partial Function.

The first reimplantation of frozen ovarian tissue into a cancer patient has resulted in at least partial restoration of ovarian function, British researchers reported.

The development is being lauded as a fertility breakthrough for cancer patients who become sterile after chemotherapy or radiation to treat their disease.

"There is no other fertility option for these patients after being cured except for egg donation. So this leaves open the possibility that they can have their own genetic child," said Dr. Roger Gosden, an author of the report (Lancet 357[9263]: 1172-75, 2001).

The 36-year-old woman had one of her ovaries removed and cryopreserved in 1998 before receiving high-dose chemotherapy for a third recurrence of Hodgkin's lymphoma. Her other ovary was left in place in case it survived the treatment, which it did not.

She had been diagnosed with the cancer 4 years earlier and had been treated quite extensively already with both chemotherapy and radiation.

Last year, two ovarian corticol strips from the harvest ovary were thawed and reimplanted, one onto the sterile left ovary and the other at the site where the harvested right ovary had been.

"Seven months after the procedure, her hot flushes had disappeared, she had regrowth of her endometrial lining, she was producing normal amounts of estrogen, and has had two menstrual cycles, although they were nonovulatory," Dr. Gosden, who worked with the ...