Advertisement

New technology could allow women to conceive naturally in their 50s

Copyright: AP
Cancer survivor Stinne Holm Bergholt conceived her children after an ovary transplant

Women may soon be able to put menopause on hold, giving them the potential to conceive without the help of fertility assistance much later in life than currently possible, scientists say.

The claims come after three women successfully conceived naturally after receiving a transplanted ovary, the UK Daily Mail reports.

One of the women had her own ovarian tissue frozen and transplanted back into her at a later date, while the other two women received ovarian tissue extracted from an identical twin.

Swedish woman Stinne Holm Bergholt had one of her ovaries removed and frozen prior to undergoing chemotherapy for bone cancer. Once she had finished the chemotherapy, she had the ovary transplanted back in, and subsequently went on to have three children.

‘Seven years back, I had just finished chemotherapy and my body was very weak,’ Ms Holm Bergholt told the UK Sunday Times. ‘Now I have three children and am living a normal life. It’s amazing.’

The technology could also work to restore fertility in women who undergo menopause prematurely in their 20s and 30s, and has led to plans to offer British women the option of freezing part of their ovaries in their 20s for re-implantation later in life.

Have you got what it takes to be a celebrity nanny?

Director of the Infertility Centre of St Louis, Missouri and one of the lead scientists working on the project, Dr Sherman Silber, says the findings also offer the opportunity for women to avoid menopause altogether.

‘It is possible to remove a small piece of ovarian tissue, freeze it, and when the women reaches menopause around the age of 51, we could transplant that tissue back and she might not ever have to go through menopause,’ Dr Silber said.

Potentially, this means that women in their 50s could conceive a baby without requiring fertility treatment. Currently, older women who wish to fall pregnant must undergo IVF treatment, and even then the success rates are low.

BRITAIN'S OLDEST FIRST-TIME MUM: 'I have regrets'

Gedis Grudzinskas, a consultant gynaecologist in London, told the UK Daily Mail that the technology will give women back the choice about when they have children.

‘Women will have so much choice about when and how to have children, independent of their age and the so-called biological clocks ticking away at various rates in their ovaries,’ he said.

However, the idea of women in their 50s having babies remains controversial, with one of Britain’s oldest new mums admitting last week that she regrets having her daughter so late in life.

Sue Tollefsen, who gave birth to daughter Freya in 2008 at the age of 57, says that despite initially defending her decision to become a post-menopausal mum, she now considers it to be a mistake.

‘It’s so true that you learn from your mistakes, and my mistake was not having (Freya) sooner,’ she said.

‘If I’m completely honest, my experience has taught me that 50 should probably be the cut-off limit for having children.’

What do you think? Should women be able to use ovarian transplant technology to put off having children until later in life? Have your say on our forums , vote in our poll, or join the conversation on our Facebook page.

More on fertility and conception: