Frozen embryo method helps woman give birth after being diagnosed with cancer

Kochi: A young woman, whose ovaries had been removed, gave birth, two years after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She became a mother through the frozen embryo method. Before undergoing treatment, in 2018 October, the ovaries were extracted and fertilized with the sperms using the IVF and ICSI methods. The embryo thus formed was frozen and preserved.

The woman was completely cured in 2020 August after two years of treatment and rehabilitation. The embryo was then implanted in the uterus. This was done after bringing back the uterus to its normal state with hormone treatment. She gave birth to a baby girl on 10 April this year. The newborn weighed 3.1 kg at the time of birth. The doctors said that the baby and mother are doing fine.

Dr. Shameema Anwar Sadath, the senior gynecology consultant and head of the IVF department at the Aster Medicity said that the treatment wasn’t easy as cancer had spread to almost all parts of the ovaries. The woman, a native of Angamaly, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer around a year after her marriage.