A woman has given birth to a healthy baby seven years after being rendered infertile by receiving treatment for cancer. Mark Henderson, The Times Science Correspondent, explains why ovarian transplants may offer new hope for women to conceive after cancer and later in life

What is significant about this case?

Doctors have deliberately performed a procedure that effectively reverses the menopause. It paves the way for women to "bank" ovarian tissue before cancer treatment so they can start a family later, or even to store tissue in their twenties for later use.

What procedures did the doctors use?

Slices of tissue were removed from one of Ouarda Touirat's ovaries and frozen in liquid nitrogen before she began chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma. Her cancer treatment triggered a premature menopause. Once she had recovered from her cancer, a team headed by Jacques Donnez thawed one slice and implanted it surgically in her abdomen, close to the ovary. This restored her menstrual cycle, and she conceived naturally by having sex with her husband.

Who is going to be drawing new hope from Tamara Touirat's birth?

The main beneficiaries are going to be female cancer patients, whose treatment will often leave them infertile. They will be able to have ovarian tissue removed and frozen before starting chemotherapy, with a view to implanting it later if it is needed to restore their fertility.

It will also help women with a family history of early menopause: they will also be able to "bank" tissue, for reimplantation when they want to try to have children. In the longer term, there may be nothing to stop healthy women who want to postpone motherhood until their late thirties or forties from taking advantage of the technique. They could have tissue removed and frozen in their early twenties, for use decades later once they had established themselves in a career. At present, however, this is not much of an option: for healthy women, the risks of the procedure far outweigh the benefits.

When is this likely to be available in Britain, and how much will it cost?

Several clinics would like to offer women the chance to freeze ovaries, but none do so at present and there are no surgeons in this country attempting the technique. The cost would be a few thousand pounds.

Haven't women already given birth after the menopause or being infertile?

Yes, but only in rather freakish circumstances. Some women in their 50s and even 60s have given birth far beyond the normal age of the menopause, but in these cases a handful of healthy eggs must have remained in their ovaries. Other post-menopausal mothers have given birth as surrogates or with donated embryos, but this does not involve their own eggs. A few women who would normally be made sterile by cancer treatment have also recovered their fertility naturally, but this is rare.

Why is a fertility doctor in the US casting doubt on the results?

Most experts have welcomed the news, but many remain cautious about reading too much into the success. This is because ovarian function can sometimes recover spontaneously in relatively young women who have an early menopause because of cancer treatment, and it is impossible to be certain this has not happened in this case.

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