New ovarian transplant tech gives more hope

LONDON: Two new techniques to preserve and transplant ovaries might give women a better chance to fight their biological clocks and have children when they are older, doctors announced yesterday.

In the past, scientists have performed ovarian transplants in women with cancer, since chemotherapy often causes infertility. Doctors typically take out patients' ovaries before the toxic treatment begins and then reimplant them later.

Because of the cost and uncertainties involved - only a handful have been done successfully - this was thought only worthwhile for women with serious diseases who had few options.