New Techniques May Aid Ovary Transplant

New techniques may make ovary transplants useful for more women, researchers say. Now some women have ovaries removed before treatment for cancer or other serious diseases. This prevents damage to eggs from treatment. The ovaries are frozen and transplanted later. But few procedures have succeeded. Now researchers have announced new techniques at a conference. One group froze ovaries faster and saved nearly all of the eggs. Slow freezing saved only half of them. Another group tried implanting just part of the ovary first. This helped the body to get blood and hormones flowing before the transplant. Researchers said these techniques may help healthy women, too. They may be able to freeze ovaries when they are young. They would get a transplant later, when they wanted to have a baby. The Associated Press wrote about the research June 29.