Freeze the eggs before puberty to treat cancer

A 23-year-old woman could become the first person in the world to give birth to a baby from an egg at age eight.

If successful, Moaza Alnatrooshi (England) will be the first person in the world to get pregnant from frozen eggs before she begins puberty.

This will be a breakthrough that will bring hope to thousands of women who are unable to conceive because their reproductive organs are damaged by cancer or other diseases.

Freezing eggs for a baby (for various reasons) is not new.

Last year, Belgian doctors revealed that they had sought to restore fertility to a young woman by using frozen eggs taken at the age of 13. By the time she was 28 years old (and had undergone childhood chemotherapy) she gave birth to a healthy baby in November 2014.

Moaza Alnatrooshi, however, was the first case involving a female patient frozen eggs before puberty .

Moaza Alnatrooshi was oophorized for hereditary blood disorders at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London. She had to undergo chemotherapy before her bone marrow transplant.

Technical experts have tried to preserve her eggs in the hope that someday it will allow her to have a full family. Last year, Alnatrooshi's treating physician, Sara Matthews, arranged to send an egg to Denmark, where the transplant was performed.

The patient and her husband will go through some other measures to increase their chances of conceiving. Alnatrooshi, from Britain, said: " My mother did a great job for me, she helped me freeze the eggs and when I grew up I could use them ."

Dr. Matthews emphasized that if successful, it would help many other women in the future. " It will help women with cancer or other serious illnesses with chemotherapy ."

Professor Claus Yding Andersen of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark said: " If Moaza was pregnant, this would be the first case of pregnancy with eggs taken before puberty. Successful pregnancies will bring hope to so many unlucky people who get cancer early on . "