Alabama Woman Will Receive Twin's Ovary

April 22, 2004

UPDATED - Wednesday April 21, 2004 3:54pm

___ ABC 7 Interact ___

ST. LOUIS (AP) - In a procedure billed as a first in the United States, an

infertile Alabama woman will receive a transplanted ovary from her identical

twin sister.

Dr. Sherman Silber, director of the Infertility Center of St. Louis at St.

Luke's Hospital, planned to perform the transplant Wednesday on the

24-year-old sisters, Melanie Morgan and Stephanie Yarber, both of Muscle

Shoals, Ala.

Various organ-donor and reproductive groups could not confirm Silber's claim

that such a transplant has never been tried in the United States. Silber

performed a testicle transplant for twin men in 1977, and the formerly

infertile brother now has four children.

The sisters entered puberty normally, but Yarber began to go through

menopause at age 13 while her sister stayed fertile. Yarber has been unable

to become pregnant even with eggs donated by Morgan for in vitro

fertilization, and the women asked Silber to transplant an ovary from Morgan

into her infertile sister.

Silber expects that in about three months, the transplanted ovary will start

normal hormone cycles and produce mature eggs for a pregnancy.

Scientists have been working for years to learn how to freeze eggs and

preserve a woman's fertility. So far, they've been unsuccessful.

Last month in the journal Nature, researchers at the Oregon Health & Science

University reported a successful birth of a a rhesus monkey following an

ovarian transplant of the mother's own tissue to another part of her body.

If Morgan's transplanted ovary functions properly, Yarber could realize

significant health benefits by eliminating the need for hormone replacement

therapy, Silber said. Women who take hormone therapy after menopause are at

greater risk of stroke, heart attack, breast cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

» Find More Articles Related To This One

Recommended Posts