Two miracle babies for 'infertile' cancer victim

Published on Wednesday 24 February 2010 21:46

A FORMER cancer patient has made medical history by giving birth to two babies after her fertility was restored with frozen ovarian tissue.

• Stinne Bergholdt and her children Aviaja, left, and Lucca, in Odense

Medical doctor Stinne Bergholdt is the first woman in the world to undergo the procedure and become a mother twice with separate pregnancies.

Yesterday, she described the birth of her second baby, achieved without the help of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, as "a miracle".

Dr Bergholdt was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer that mainly affects the bones, at the age of 27 in 2004.

Before starting chemotherapy, which would have left her sterile, part of her right ovary was removed and frozen.

In December 2005, after successful treatment, six thin strips of frozen ovarian tissue were thawed and transplanted on to what remained of her right ovary.

After mild ovarian stimulation, she became pregnant and gave birth to her first daughter, Aviaja, in February, 2007.

The following year, Dr Bergholdt returned to the clinic where the transplant took place to have IVF. But the treatment was not necessary – a pregnancy test revealed she had conceived again naturally.

Nine children worldwide have now been born as a result of freezing and thawing ovarian tissue.

Lucca's birth is important because it shows that a single procedure can keep a woman fertile over periods of years, allowing her to get pregnant more than once.

Doctors believe young women undergoing cancer treatment could be helped to avoid a premature menopause for decades, if necessary.

Professor Claus Yding Andersen, from the University Hospital of Copenhagen, who has pioneered the technique and treated Dr Bergholdt, said: "This showed that the original transplanted ovarian strips had continued to work for more than four years, and that Mrs Bergholdt still has the capacity to conceive and give birth to healthy children.

"It is an amazing fact that these ovarian strips have been working for so long and it provides information on how powerful this technique can be.

"She continues to have natural menstrual cycles and, at present, is using pregnancy-preventing measures to avoid becoming pregnant again.

"She has seven more ovarian strips in the liquid nitrogen tank and may return, if she wishes so, to have more tissue transplanted in order to maintain her ovarian function once the current strips stop working.

"As long as the tissue remains properly stored in liquid nitrogen, it could remain functional for as long as 40 years."

Dr Bergholdt, from Odense, Denmark, is one of the authors of a research paper about her case in the journal Human Reproduction.