29 Oct 2011
By: SALMA KHALIK
A SINGAPORE-BASED woman who beat cancer has been given hope of starting a family after becoming the first patient in Asia to receive an ovarian tissue transplant.
The 32-year-old had egg-producing follicles removed from her body when she was diagnosed in 2008.
Doctors did this to avoid having the follicles damaged or destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation treatment, which would have made it hard for her to conceive.
Once the permanent resident had been given the all-clear from cervical cancer, the tissue was transplanted back into her ovary in the pioneering operation – which has been carried out on only 32 other women worldwide.
This tricky procedure is still in its infancy, and only four medical institutes in the world provide it, said Dr Roland Chieng, one of two gynaecologists who carried out the transplant at Parkway East Hospital.
In the 2008 operation, doctors harvested the thin inner layer of the ovary, cut it into 5mm by 5mm squares, and then froze them.
The follicles had to be preserved without affecting their ability to produce fertile eggs. And the entire ovary could not be frozen as it contains too much liquid, which would turn to ice and damage the follicles.
The tissue was transplanted onto the inside of the woman’s abdominal wall by Dr Chieng and Dr Abdul Aziz in a three-hour operation earlier this month.
“It’s like doing mosaic flooring,” said Dr Chieng. They put in 13 of the 21 pieces that had been frozen. The rest will be saved for future use.
Once transplanted, the ovarian tissues give a patient natural fertility for between seven and 45 months, depending on how old she was when the tissue was removed.
That is why it should be replaced only when a woman is ready for children.
Because the tissue was transplanted onto the inside of her abdominal wall, the Singapore patient will need to undergo in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) to get pregnant. If an embryo is formed, it will be placed in her womb for it to grow.
Dr Chieng said 17 babies have been born to women following such transplants, with the first born in Belgium in 2004. Several hospitals here, including Singapore General Hospital and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, have removed and stored ovarian tissues because of cancer. Dr Chieng himself has done it for more than 200 women.
But this is the first time a patient here has had her tissue replaced. Dr Chieng expects the woman’s fertility to return in five or six months.
New blood vessels have to grow to feed and activate the tissues. But he is confident that the treatment will be a success.
The woman, who got married recently to another Singapore PR, told The Straits Times that she is really keen to have children and will try to get pregnant “as soon as possible”.
Email: salma@sph.com.sg / www.facebook.com/ST.Salma
Click for jpeg format
« Back to previous
page
back to top