Fertility Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting, Sydney
Media Release Monday 2 September 2013
EMBARGO TO 3.30pm MONDAY 2 September, 2013
Australian fertility specialists achieve
world’s first pregnancy from ovarian
tissue grafted outside woman’s pelvis
Researchers from the leading fertility preservation service at Melbourne IVF
and The Royal Women’s Hospital have achieved the world’s first on-going
pregnancy from tissue removed from an ovary of a woman undergoing cancer
treatment and later grafted to her abdominal wall.
The Melbourne woman, Vali, (first name only) sought the tissue preservation
treatment to help save her fertility after the loss of ovarian function through
cancer treatment.
Prior to surgery to remove her second ovary at the age of 23, she requested
the ovarian tissue be frozen.
Seven years after the cancer treatment that left her menopausal, Vali asked
for the frozen ovarian tissue to be thawed and grafted back to help her
conceive a baby with her own eggs.
Freezing and transplantation of ovarian tissue back into the original position in
the pelvis, known as orthotopic transplantation, has resulted in 29 births
world-wide.
However, heterotopic transplantation – where ovarian fragments are grafted
at alternative sites distant from their physiological location, including the
abdomen and breast – has until now not resulted in clinical pregnancy.
With the supply of blood and stimulating hormones to increase the viability of
the transplanted tissue, follicle development can occur and mature eggs can
be retrieved from the heterotopic site. Once harvested, IVF can be employed.
Vali, who had the ovarian tissue grafted to the anterior wall of her abdomen, is
now 25 weeks into her pregnancy and is expecting twins.
The pioneering procedure, reported at the annual scientific meeting of the
Fertility Society of Australia in Sydney today (Monday), is a triumph for a team
of fertility specialists at Melbourne IVF, led by its Head of Fertility Preservation,
Associate Professor Kate Stern, and the Royal Women’s Hospital (the
Women’s).
…2/
-2The research is also to be published in Europe’s leading reproductive
medicine journal, Human Reproduction.*
This pioneering team includes:
 Dr Lyndon Hale, Medical Director Melbourne IVF, who led the surgical
procedure;
 Dr Debra Gook, the scientist who developed the laboratory processes
for the freezing and thawing of ovarian tissue;
 Associate Professor John McBain, who heads the Reproductive
Services at the Women’s; and
 researchers, scientists and nurses who are all intensively involved in
this program.
Associate Professor Stern, who is also head of the Medical Preservation of
Fertility Special Interest Group of the Fertility Society, said improvements in
cancer therapy had resulted in long-term survival from many malignancies.
However, a significant proportion of patients are left infertile because of the
toxic effects of some cancer treatments, or because of the surgical removal of
their reproductive organs.
Associate Professor Stern said the woman and her partner, Dean (first name
only) had received extensive counselling about the risk of tumor cell
transmission through the grafting procedure, but comprehensive and repeated
tests in association with her oncologist had shown no evidence of this
occurring.
“Seven months after a second graft of the thawed ovarian tissue, during a
cycle of gentle IVF hormone stimulation, two follicles were found in the
abdominal wall graft site,” she explained.
“This very mild stimulation cycle resulted in two oocytes, or eggs, being
retrieved from the follicles in the abdominal wall. Single sperm injection was
performed on both oocytes with subsequent fertilisation through IVF and the
two embryos were transferred into the patient’s uterus three days later.
“Subsequent ultrasound tests have shown that the twin pregnancy is
proceeding normally.
“This is the first demonstration of an on-going pregnancy from a heterotopic
graft site and it provides renewed optimism for women who are facing ovarian
surgery or radiotherapy to treat cancer.
“There is no doubt the eggs have come from the transplanted tissue on the
abdominal wall.
…3/
-3“Most importantly, this pregnancy provides unequivocal evidence that
cryopreservation, or freezing of the ovarian tissue, preserves follicle
development and that normal ovarian function and pregnancy can occur at a
non-ovarian site.
“We are now introducing a new program for retrieval and transport of ovarian
tissue from other centres for cryopreservation and storage in our centre.
“This will allow patients being treated outside the major centres to have the
optimal opportunity for cryopreservation of their precious ovarian tissue.”
Interview:
Associate Professor Kate Stern and key research team members will
participate in a media conference at the Fertility Society of Australia meeting
at the Hilton Hotel, Sydney at 3.15pm on Monday 2 September.
Photographs and broadcast quality vision of the pregnant woman and her
partner are available on-line (See link)
Further Information:
Trevor Gill, FSA Media Relations on 0418 821948
Nicole Phillips, IVF Australia on 0408 280 499.
Research Team:
The team responsible for this groundbreaking development includes:
 Associate Professor Kate Stern, Head of the Fertility Preservation Service at
Melbourne IVF (MIVF) and the Women’s, Head of Clinical Research at MIVF
and Head of the Endocrine and Metabolic Unit, the Women’s;
 Dr Lyndon Hale, Head of Reproductive Surgery at the Women’s and Medical
Director at MIVF;
 Associate Professor John McBain, Head of Reproductive Services, the
Women’s and Senior Fertility Specialist at MIVF;
 Dr Debra Gook, lead scientist of the oocyte and ovarian tissue
cryopreservation program at the Women’s and MIVF;
 Dr Franca Agresta, Clinical Research Manager, the Women’s and MIVF;
 Dr Manuela Toledo, senior fertility specialist MIVF;
 Dr Jacqueline Oldham and Dr Amanda Sampson, gynaecology ultrasound
specialists;
 Associate Professor Tom Jobling, gynaecological oncologist; and
 Dr Petra Wale, Ms Stacey Gwilim and Ms Nicole Merry, senior scientists and
laboratory managers, MIVF.
 Special acknowledgement to Professor Claus Yding Andersen, Head of the
Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, University Riks Hospital, Copenhagen,
and Professor Dror Meirow, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
* Human Reproduction – Full Title: First Reported Clinical Pregnancy Following
Heterotopic Grafting of Cryopreserved Ovarian Tissue in a Woman after a Bilateral
Oophorectomy. (doi:10.1093/humrep/det360