NEW YORK — A 30-year-old infertile woman gave birth after surgeons removed her ovaries and re-implanted tissue they treated in a lab, researchers report.
The experimental technique was tried only in a small group of Japanese women with a specific kind of infertility problem, but scientists hope it also can help women in their early 40s who have trouble getting pregnant because of their age.
The new mother gave birth to a son in Tokyo in December, and she and the child continue to be healthy, said Dr. Kazuhiro Kawamura of the St. Marianna University School of Medicine in Kawasaki, Japan. He and others describe the technique in a report published online Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The mother, who was not identified, had been diagnosed with primary ovarian insufficiency, an uncommon form of infertility sometimes called premature menopause. The cause of most cases is unknown, but the outcome is that the ovary has trouble producing eggs. The standard treatment is using donor eggs.
After the experimental procedure, Kawamura and colleagues were able to recover eggs from five of their 27 patients.
The new results, experts cautioned, must be viewed as preliminary.
“One success does not mean we have a treatment. … Stay tuned,” said David Albertini of the University of Kansas Medical Center.
He and others were skeptical of the researcher’s suggestion that the procedure would help women between ages 40 and 45.
Eggs from women of that age often show genetic abnormalities, many of which would prevent a live birth, said Dr. Marcelle Cedars of the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center. Stimulating egg production wouldn’t overcome that problem, she said.
