151 a 27yearold belgian woman who was left infertile after chemotherapy was able to give birth to a healthy baby boy thanks to a groundbreaking procedure that utilized her ovarian tissue frozen 14 years ago at age 13 the unidentified woman had portions of her ovaries frozen in the hopes that they would one day allow her to conceive a biological child while the procedure has worked in women who have already started menstruating it had yet to be proven to work in children so she is the first the patients case was explained in a recent article in the journal human reproduction the woman had arrived in belgium from congo at age 11 with severe sickle cell anemia in order to help the girl doctors advised a stem cell transplant from her sibling fda ban on gay men as blood donors opposed by american medical association blue bell hits the restart button on its operations after listeria outbreak jenis splendid ice cream recalls all products after positive listeria test but to properly transplant the stem cells the girls immune system would have to be totally wiped out with chemotherapy which can also irrevocably damage the ovaries while doctors froze the girls ovarian tissue they were not sure whether it would work or produce eggs when implanted as an adult because of the girls young age ten years after chemotherapy resulted in her remaining ovary failing the woman had her frozen ovarian tissue grafted as a result two years later the woman was able to naturally conceive her child and deliver a baby in november according to the journal dr isabelle demeestere lead author on the study and a research associate in the fertility clinic and research laboratory on human reproduction at erasme hospital university libre of brussels in belgium said more study was needed but that the success of the procedure was an important first step this is an important breakthrough in the field because children are the patients who are most likely to benefit from the procedure in the future she said in a statement when they are diagnosed with diseases that require treatment that can destroy ovarian function freezing ovarian tissue is the only available option for preserving their fertility dr kutluk oktay a fertility specialist and a professor at the department of obstetrics gynecology new york medical college in valhalla new york who helped to pioneer the treatment in the late1990s said this success with a young teens tissue could give hope to many people or parents of young children going through procedures now that can damage their fertility in another sense it shows the importance of this technique in children said oktay who has taken tissue from children as young as 1 in hopes of helping them retain their fertility as they get older part or whole of an ovary can be removed and frozen in small slivers he explained barbara collura president and ceo of resolve the national infertility association said she