Fertility restored after chemo

In what he says is a world-first, a Belgian gynaecologist restored the fertility of a women who became infertile after undergoing chemotherapy and whole-body radiation for cancer, Agence France-Presse reported.

Dr Jacques Donnez said he grafted ovarian tissue from the patient's sister during an operation last year.

"To this day, more than a year after the graft, the patient continues to menstruate regularly. Her ovarian functions are restored, as well as her chances of natural childbirth," Donnez said in a statement released Tuesday.

An article about the case is to be published in the journal Human Reproduction.

In 2005, an American doctor reported a successful transplant of ovarian tissue supplied by the patient's identical twin sister, which greatly reduced the risk of rejection. In this latest case, the sister was not an identical twin, AFP reported.

In 2004, Donnez and his team achieved a world-first when they helped a woman give birth after her ovarian tissue was removed, thawed and then re-implanted. – (HealthDayNews)

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Pregnancy Centre

July 2007