Danish Woman 1st In The World To Have 2 Babies After Ovary Transplant

Danish Woman 1st In The World To Have 2 Babies After Ovary Transplant

It had been six years since a Danish woman; Stinne Holm Bergholdt asked her doctor for an ovary transplant, that she gave birth to not one, but two babies a year apart.  Diagnosed with bone cancer at age 27, she wanted the ovary removed and replaced later. She was concerned that chemotherapy treatments would hamper her chance of having children.

As reported by the Associated Press, doctors removed 13 strips of her ovarian tissue, prior to her starting chemotherapy, and froze them.  After 20 months of treatments and recovery, seven of the strips removed were replanted.  A few months later, Bergholdt's ovaries were working again.

Her first child, Aviaja, was born in 2007 with the help of in-vitro fertilization, however when Bergholdt and her husband decided to have a second child, they found out that she had already conceived and in-vitro was not necessary. Lucca was born in 2008.  Doctors were shocked that the ovary transplants were still working four years later.

This last birth has made Stinne Holm Bergholdt the first woman in the world to give birth twice following an ovary transplant. Ovary transplants and implants have been used most frequently for cancer patients, but according to experts, it could be used for other women who suffer damage to the ovaries. Her case has just been make public in the Journal of Human Reproduction on Thursday.