Three cancer patients in their 30s and 40s have successfully given birth using their own ovaries, which were kept frozen while they underwent cancer therapies, according to a Japanese medical school. The procedure provides hope to female pediatric cancer patients — even those who have yet to have their periods.
The results came during a clinical study conducted at St. Marianna University School of Medicine in Kawasaki, which developed the fertility treatment technique. The three cases are the first known childbirths in Japan using a technique that involved women who have undergone cancer therapies.
Cancer patients could lose the ability to conceive if chemotherapy or radiation treatment damages their ovaries.