OVARIAN TISSUE CRYOPRESERVATION TESTED OUT IN A YOUNG 2 YEAR-OLD GIRL

The results of a study focusing on samples of immature ovarian and ovum tissue taken from young cancer patients were presented in Helsinki during the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

The youngest patient whose specimens were collected prior to the introduction of chemotherapy (which can cause infertility), was a two year-old girl. Her tissues have been cryopreserved and should enable her to have a child later in life.

The innovation of this technique lies in the collection of immature eggs present in the follicles which are cultivated up to maturation in vitro and then frozen. “This is another advantage,”announced Timothy Child, Oxford University Professor and Director of the Oxford Fertility Institute: “We are freezing mature tissues and eggs”.

To date, approximately 50 children have been born world-wide following the preservation of ovarian tissues collected from adults or older children. Some doubts remain regarding the use of this technique in such a young patient. A 23 year-old woman nevertheless underwent an ovarian tissue transplant this year using tissue that had been collected and frozen when she was 8 years old.

Professor Stuart Lavery, who is not involved in the study, announced in The Telegraph that the idea would be to “put those little pieces of ovary back into the person themselves but the worry has always been could some cancer cells remain?”. With this latest technique scientists “will, in fact, be capable of cultivating and isolating eggs from this tissue”which they would use “without having to transplant the ovaries again”.

More British women giving birth after age 40

As the average age American women give birth has risen in recent years, new data suggest a similar trend in the United Kingdom. For the first time since the post-World War II baby boom, British women over age 40 are having more babies than women under 20, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The group found that, in 2015 in England and Wales, there were 15.2 births per 1,000 women ages 40 and over, compared to 14.5 per 1,000 women in their teens, BBC News reported. That year, there were 697,852 live births in the countries.

The number of teenage births in England and Wales has been on decline and is now down more than half from the 33 births per 1,000 women in 1990.

The average age British women give birth is now 30.3, a figure that has been on the rise since 1975, according to the ONS.

The group attributes this shift to advancements in fertility treatment, more women obtaining higher education, and changes in attitude around careers, as well as the rising costs of childbearing.

Data suggested that women ages 30 to 34 have the highest fertility of any age group— 111 births per 1,000 women.

"While the risks should never be overplayed, men and women should be aware that reproductive outcomes are poorer in older women,” professor Adam Balen, chairmen of the British Fertility Society, told BBC News. "As well as it potentially taking longer to get pregnant, later maternity can involve a greater risk of miscarriage, a more complicated labor, and medical intervention at the birth."

In January, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in the United States, the average age of women giving birth for the first time rose from 24.9 to 26.3 between 2000 and 2014. The report suggested that 9.1 percent of women having their first child were 35 or older.

AT 60 YEARS OLD, A MOTHER HAS JUST BEEN GRANTED THE RIGHT TO USE HER DECEASED DAUGHTER’S OOCYTES

After a 5-year judicial battle, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has just lost its trial against a 60-year-old woman, who wished to use the frozen oocytes of her daughter who died of cancer in 2011

Hoping to become a mother by IVF, the young woman had frozen 3 oocytes while she was receiving her treatment. However, in 2010, her illness was diagnosed as incurable. From there, she asked her own mother to take on the role of surrogate mother and the doctors dealing with her case to take action in that sense.

In 2013, her 57-year-old parents thus got in touch with an American clinic near New York, in order to conceive a child thanks to a sperm donation. But their request was turned down by the clinic in charge of the oocytes. It claimed that their daughter had not signed any written consent before she died. Indeed, although she had filled in a form in which she agreed for her oocytes to be stocked and then used, she didn’t give any more information about how they were to be used once she died, and in particular concerning their exportation abroad and their fertilization thanks to a sperm donor. First, the High Court went along with this decision.

However, the complainant said that her daughter “had never expressed any other wish concerning the use of her oocytes, and that her desire had clearly been formulated”. The case was thus sent to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, who reminded the complainant of the risks, due to her age, of such a pregnancy. An obstetrician added that the chances of taking the pregnancy to its term without any danger were weak, but possible, with, however, the risk of reactivating a former breast cancer.

The High Court then adjudicated in favour of the mother, considering that the young women had no obligation to express her consent on paper.

When parents use egg donors, telling kids early may be best

When children learn at an early age that their parents used an egg donor, the disclosure process is easier than when the kids don't hear the facts until they're older, a recent study suggests.

Researchers surveyed 72 parents of 66 children who had been conceived using donor eggs. The children, from 46 families, ranged in age from 7 to 19 years old at the time of the survey.

Previous studies have focused on parental intentions to disclose but not on what actually occurred in the disclosure process, the researchers note in the journal Human Reproduction.

Twenty of the 46 families had disclosed to their children that an egg donor was used in their conception. The average age of the children when they heard the news was five and a half, but ages at disclosure ranged from 1 to 13 years.

"Families disclosing to children by the age of 8 reported the lowest levels of conflict regarding the disclosure process and the highest levels of satisfaction at having disclosed early," the authors write.

They also found that parents reported feeling more anxious about disclosure the longer they waited.

"Waiting for the 'right' time to disclose can inadvertently lead to prolonged/unintended delays and heightened parental anxiety as children get older and they are faced with disclosing to adolescents or even older children," coauthor Nancy Kaufman, a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in New York City, told Reuters Health by email.

"We were most surprised by the number of parents who despite wanting to be open and honest with their children have delayed disclosure," said lead author Linda Applegarth of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

Of the 26 families that had yet to disclose the information, 18 still planned to do so. The average age of the children in this group was 11 years old. At this age, they are "close to the teen years where there might be more resentment about not being told earlier, and parents worry about this," Applegarth said.

Primary reasons for disclosure were the child's right to know, the desire to be open and honest and the notion that family secrets are harmful. For families who still intended to disclose, primary reasons for delayed disclosure included never finding the right time and uncertainty about how to disclose.

Half of the families that had already disclosed the information had sought mental health assistance, compared to only two of the 18 families that still planned to disclose but hadn't yet accomplished it.

The study had limitations. For example, only 12 percent of those who were invited to participate actually did. The researchers had originally mailed invitations to 459 families to attend a seminar on disclosure in egg donation at which the survey was administered, but only 46 families sent representatives.

In many cases, the addresses may not have been up to date, Applegarth said.

The investigators clearly state that this is a preliminary study, said Patricia Hershberger of the College of Nursing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Still, Hershberger said, the seminar might have affected the parents' attitudes and perceptions about disclosure.

Nevertheless, the study "provides much needed insight into understanding how parents in the U.S. approach disclosing the true conceptual origins to their donor-egg conceived children," Hershberger said.

"The findings have implications for both parents and healthcare practitioners," she added. "For parents, the findings encourage early disclosure and for practitioners, the findings suggest that follow-up is important, especially for some parents. Which parents can best be helped by follow-up is yet to be determined and an area for future research."

Applegarth said parents who attended the seminar felt it was helpful to meet other families in the same situation. She hopes reproductive clinics will focus more on support services for families.

Parents should also seek out clinics that will help them with future conversations, Applegarth said.

"Families are very attached to where they got their children," and there's comfort in returning to the clinic for help with difficult conversations, she said.

Fertility treatment 'works for most

Nearly three out of four couples that begin fertility treatment will eventually become parents, long-term studies suggest.

The analysis of nearly 20,000 Danish couples found 65% had children within three years and 71% within five years.

Doctors, presenting their data at a fertility conference, said the odds were heavily influenced by age.

But experts said the findings were very encouraging for couples struggling to have babies.

There is strong evidence that about one in three cycles of IVF is successful in women under the age of 35.

But what happens in the long run, when some couples try over and over again, others give up and some have problems that cannot be treated, has been uncertain.

Researchers at the Copenhagen University Hospital used rigorous registry records in Denmark to follow 19,884 women from the moment they started fertility treatment.

The results, presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, showed that more than half had given birth within two years, rising to 71% after five years.

For women under 35, 80% had children within five years. But the figure fell to 61% in those between 35 and 40 years old; and fell again to 26% in women over 40.

'Very good chance'

Dr Sara Malchau, one of the researchers, told the BBC News website: "There is a very good chance of having a child, even if you have difficulties conceiving on your own.

"Most causes of infertility can be overcome, but age is the most important factor to predict if treatments are going to be successful or not.

"Also women with a body mass index under 30 had better outcomes as well as women who didn't smoke."

The study also found that nearly a fifth of the women under 35 ended up conceiving as a result of sex - despite having sought fertility treatment.

However, Dr Malchau cautioned Denmark prioritized fertility treatments that made.