An Australian woman who was left infertile after undergoing ovarian cancer treatment is pregnant with twins after a world first ovarian tissue graft.
Vali, 27, requested her ovarian tissue be frozen to preserve her fertility when cancer treatment forced her ovaries to lose function and eventually be removed.
The cancer treatment left her menopausal at the age of only 20, but seven years later thanks to groundbreaking treatment, Vali is 25 weeks into a healthy pregnancy and she and her partner Dean are looking forward to welcoming two baby girls.
Proud father-to-be Dean described the pregnancy as “almost science fiction”.
“It’s phenomenal,” he said.
Freezing and transplantation of ovarian tissue has resulted in 29 pregnancies worldwide, but Vali’s is a first as it is the first successful pregnancy from ovarian tissue grafted outside the pelvis.
This procedure — where ovarian fragments are grafted at alternative sites distant from their physiological location, including the abdomen and breast — has until now not resulted in a clinical pregnancy.
Vali had the ovarian tissue grafted to her abdominal wall where two eggs where then harvested and fertilised through IVF.
Dr Kate Stern, who led the treatment at Melbourne IVF said Vali’s case say the breakthrough offers new hope to women who are facing ovarian surgery or radiotherapy to treat cancer.
“There is no doubt the eggs have come from the transplanted tissue on the abdominal wall,” Dr Stern said.
“Most importantly, this pregnancy provides unequivocal evidence that cryopreservation, or freezing of the ovarian tissue, preserves follicle development and that normal ovarian function and pregnancy can occur at a non-ovarian site.
