March 19, 2024

Fertility restored to girl whose ovarian tissue was frozen

The first successful pregnancy after pre-pubertal freezing of ovarian tissue

A woman has given birth to a healthy child after her fertility was restored with ovarian tissue frozen when she was a child. Moaza Al Matrooshi, a 24-year-old woman from Dubai, had chemotheraphy when she was nine years old to combat her beta thalassaemia, an inherited blood disorder which can be lethal. As a precaution, her right ovary was removed and frozen before she was treated.

Now married and eager to have a child of her own, Ms Al Matrooshi used the frozen tissue. In a clinic in Denmark slices of the ovary were restored and she began to ovulate. However, to ensure a pregnancy she and her husband underwent IVF. Three embryos were created and two were implanted earlier in the year.

“I always believed that I would be a mum and that I would have a baby,” she told the media. “I didn’t stop hoping and now I have this baby – it is a perfect feeling.”

Prof Helen Picton, of the University of Leeds, described the new mother’s experience as an incredibly encouraging breakthrough. “Worldwide more than 60 babies have been born from women who had their fertility restored, but Moaza is the first case from pre-pubertal freezing and the first from a patient who had treatment for beta thalassaemia,” she told The Telegraph.

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