New Technique 'In Vitro Activation' Can Help Infertile Women

Researchers from Stanford University in California and St. Marianna University in Kawasaki have developed a new technique that could help infertile women become mothers.

The study was based on 27 women from Japan. These women were suffering from primary ovarian insufficiency, which means they still had chances of conceiving. Although, the treatment failed in most participants; one woman delivered a healthy baby boy while another is currently pregnant.

The researchers refer to this technique as "in vitro activation," or IVA. A part of the ovary or the entire ovary is removed and treated outside the woman's body and then implanted back near her fallopian tubes. The woman is then given doses of hormones for boosting the growth of the follicles, which are specialized structures in the ovaries, according to a press release from the Stanford University

"Women with primary ovarian insufficiency enter menopause quite early in life, before they turn 40," Aaron Hsueh, the senior author of the study, PhD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford, said in a news release.

"Previous research has suggested that these women still have very tiny, primordial primary and secondary follicles, and that even though they are no longer having menstrual cycles they may still be treatable. Our results obtained with our clinical collaborators in Japan make us hopeful that this is a group of patients who can be helped," she added.

Women have hundreds of thousands of primordial follicles and each of them has an immature egg. Generally, one of these follicles matures every month and discharges an egg to the fallopian tube for a possible fertilization. Some women suffer from primary ovarian insufficiency at a young age due to lower levels of estrogen secretion in their ovaries.

 "For patients with primary ovarian insufficiency, egg donation is the only option for bearing a baby," said Kazuhiro Kawamura, the lead author of the study, MD, PhD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the St. Marianna University School of Medicine.

The tests are yet to be conducted on women in their 40s and women who turned infertile at an early age due to cancer chemotherapy or radiation.

This research is published online in the September 30 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.