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Print7 Healthcast: Preserving Parenthood
The 29-year old woman was facing both surgery and radiation - for cervical cancer. Radiation often leaves patients infertile.
Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg, Brigham and Women's Hospital
"It's terrible, and for many women, the loss of their fertility is as bad as the cancer diagnosis was initially, which is why it's important that effort be spent looking at these kinds of treatments."
In this treatment, doctors removed the woman's ovary, the organ that produces eggs, and transplanted it into her upper arm.
Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg, Brigham and Women's Hospital
"They remove the ovary with the blood vessels then connect those blood vessels to blood vessels in the arm."
Why there? It's a suitable space that also allows easy access.
Amazingly, the ovary keeps functioning in the upper arm. Eggs can later be retrieved for in vitro fertilization.
As with standard in vitro, the embryo is placed back in the woman's uterus where it develops. It's believed this is only the second time in the world this has been done.
Doctors have tried other techniques - like freezing a woman's eggs or ovarian tissue. While embryos can be frozen, freezing eggs alone has not yet been perfected.
Of course, because the procedure is so new and so rare - the success rate is really unknown.
For more information on the procedure: