IVF hope for child cancer cases

IVF hope for child cancer cases

The eggs were extracted, artificially matured and then frozen
Israeli scientists say that they have extracted and matured eggs from girls as young as five to freeze for possible fertility treatment in the future.
The team said that the technique could give child cancer sufferers left infertile by chemotherapy treatment a shot at parenthood later in life.

The team took eggs from a group of girls between the ages of five and 10 who had cancer.

They artificially matured the eggs to make them viable and froze them.

Experts had previously thought the eggs of pre-pubescent girls could not be used in this way.

Dr Ariel Revel, from Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem, is to present the team's findings at a fertility conference in Lyon, France, this week.

"No eggs have yet been thawed, so we do not know whether pregnancies will result," he said in a statement.

"But we are encouraged by our results so far, particularly the young ages of the patients from whom we have been able to collect eggs."

The aggressive chemotherapy used to treat many childhood cancers can leave patients sterile.

The new technique could give girls an option they would otherwise not have, the team said.