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Embryo Created Using Frozen Ovary


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#1 chubtoad

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Posted 09 March 2004 - 12:55 AM


US doctors have created a human embryo from a woman's ovarian tissue after it was frozen for six years and then grafted on to her stomach.

The technique is a step towards helping female cancer patients bypass infertility caused by harsh chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and may help delay natural menopause in other women, says lead researcher Kutluk Oktay of the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility, part of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
The team cut an ovary out of a 30-year-old breast cancer patient about to undergo chemotherapy and froze it at -196° C. Six years later, they thawed 15 fingernail-long strips and grafted them under the woman's abdominal skin using a local anaesthetic. They "feel like beads under the skin," says Oktay.
Three months later, the woman's hormones prompted the tissue to start making eggs, which the doctors boosted with fertility drugs. Over eight months they collected 20 mature eggs with a needle and mixed eight of them with sperm for in vitro fertilization (IVF).
...
Reproductive biologists have created 30-40 babies from frozen, mature eggs that were collected using fertility drugs. But only a handful of eggs can be harvested this way and many cancer patients do not have time for the procedure before their treatment.



http://www.nature.co...8/040308-2.html

#2 JonesGuy

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Posted 09 March 2004 - 11:00 PM

I am seeing more and more papers on storing a women's ovaries, for reuse once cancer has been beaten (often the ovaries are damaged during chemotherapy). At first, I didn't believe there would be enough of a market for this process to justify the expense - I mean, two open surgeries, before and after cancer therapies?

I guess the more people believe there will be a need for this technology. I don't mind, seeing as how it advances the cryobiology field. I'm just shocked.




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