At 14:46 on August 31, 2021, a loud cry of babies was heard from the operating room of Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, and everyone shouted excitedly:
China's first "frozen ovarian baby" was born!
I picked up the child excitedly and couldn't help but burst into tears, fighting with my team for this day for ten years.
From 2010, when I learned to discover the "ovarian tissue cryopreservation and transplantation" technique in Germany, to successfully planting it in the "soil" of China, taking root and blossoming.
The birth of this child has achieved another zero breakthrough in the history of reproductive medicine in China!
Not long ago, the child came to the hospital for a physical examination 45 days after giving birth, and her mother Xiaomei (pseudonym) came to the clinic to thank me and gave me a special gift.
She said:
"In the hearts of our patients, you are the most beautiful doctor who has created the history of China!"
Hearing the patient's evaluation, I feel that our hard work and hard work for so many years have been worth it.
In 2016, 29-year-old Xiaomei was unfortunately hit by bad luck and was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (pre-leukemia) after a fever.
The doctor told her that if she had a bone marrow transplant, there was a great possibility of cure, but chemotherapy would destroy her ovarian function and she would not be able to become a mother in the future.
When Xiaomei heard this diagnosis, she felt that the sky was about to fall. At that time, she was preparing to marry her boyfriend who was in love.
What makes her happy is that her boyfriend took good care of her during her illness and donated blood to her many times.
The boyfriend's family was also particularly kind, telling the boy:
"When the girl is not sick, you two are so good, you can't let people get sick, you leave her."
Cure the disease well, and if you are cured in the future, you will get married. ”
Her boyfriend also comforted her at the hospital bedside:
"When you are well, our wedding will be beautiful, and the other girls will have it, and I will prepare it for you."
Even if you can't have children, you can adopt or do dink in the future. ”
The boyfriend's family's behavior made Xiaomei particularly moved.
While waiting for a bone marrow transplant, Xiaomei often couldn't sleep at night.
The better her boyfriend's family is to herself, the more she feels guilty, their family is three generations of single transmission, she feels that she can't delay such a good family.
She thought she had to do something to preserve her fertility as much as possible.
Xiaomei went to the fertility centers of several hospitals, hoping to freeze the eggs before chemotherapy.
However, after two weeks of ovulation induction injections, there are still no mature eggs available, and the hope of egg retrieval and egg freezing is lost.
After several twists and turns, Xiaomei heard that Beijing Maternity Hospital could freeze ovarian tissue, and with the last glimmer of hope, she found me.
I still remember the scene at that time, Xiaomei sat in the examination room, tearfully told me about her condition, told me that she was going to enter the cabin soon for bone marrow transplantation, hoping to do ovarian freezing as soon as possible.
Indeed, once Xiaomei has a bone marrow transplant, although her life can be saved, her ovarian function will decline 100%, and the possibility of future pregnancy is 0.
I am also a woman and understand Xiaomei's mood very well.
Considering the tight time, we contacted the hospital leaders and immediately activated the green channel for the patient, preemptively preparing for bone marrow transplantation and freezing part of her ovaries.
Knowledge extension
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This new technology under the leadership of Professor Ruan Xiangyan of Beijing Maternity Hospital is called "ovarian tissue cryopreservation and transplantation".
It is to take out part of the patient's ovaries and freeze them, which is equivalent to cryopreserving thousands or even hundreds of thousands of eggs for the patient.
When the patient recovers, the frozen ovarian tissue is then transplanted back into the body.
In this way, the patient's fertility and ovarian function can be extended by 10, 20, or even 30 years!!
It protects both fertility and ovarian function, which is equivalent to giving the patient a second life.
Xiaomei is a lucky girl, the bone marrow transplant was successful, after two years of treatment, her blood disease was cured and her life was saved.
But what she had feared before happened was that the chemotherapy before the bone marrow transplant killed all the egg cells left in her body, resulting in premature ovarian failure.
When menstruation does not come, people become irritable and irritable; before the age of 30, she already has severe age spots on her face.
According to our previous agreement, in 2018, Xiaomei returned to me for a review, and after assessment, the ovaries left in her body were completely functional.
Because the primary disease has been cured, she is ready to have children after the new marriage, and in September 2018, we performed an autologous transplant of frozen ovarian tissue for her.
Excitingly, only 3 months after the operation, Xiaomei's menstruation resumed, which marked the resurrection and return of her ovarian function to normal!
Before Xiaomei, although our team already had experience in freezing ovarian tissue and successful transplantation, there was no precedent for the conception and delivery of transplanted ovarian patients.
Whether Xiaomei can get pregnant smoothly or not, I am not completely sure.
On December 31, 2020, Xiaomei came to my office again and brought great good news: she was naturally pregnant!
Looking back on the scene, when I heard the news, my small clinic boiled over!
Xiaomei said excitedly and humorously:
"The ovaries are still original!
Special thanks to Director Ruan's team for giving me a new lease of life, I feel that it is not only the ovaries that have moved back, but also a small sun, emitting a light of hope! ”
Group photo of Professor Nguyen Cheong Yan (right) and patient (left).
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Like Xiaomei, patients at risk of premature ovarian failure caused by radiotherapy and chemotherapy such as cancer and blood diseases are added by millions every year in China.
In my gynecological endocrinology clinic, up to 20% to 35% of patients with premature ovarian failure.
Before the absence of new technologies, how to keep young cancer patients both life and fertility has always been an international problem!
At that time, many hopeful families came to consult, but in the end they could only leave disappointed.
I once received a 15-year-old girl who had not yet come to menstruation, and her mother took her thousands of miles to see her.
The little girl had a bone marrow transplant due to aplastic anemia, and chemotherapy had led to premature ovarian failure, no menstruation, and more osteoporosis than in the 60-year-old.
When I told them that there was no good cure for premature ovarian failure, the mother and daughter cried desperately in the clinic.
Seeing that such a young flower was about to wither away before it had bloomed, my heart was like a knife.
At that time, the doctor had no way but to comfort.
In 2010, I was sent by the hospital to Germany to study.
By chance, I came into contact with the frontier of reproductive medicine - "ovarian tissue cryopreservation transplantation technology".
The technology produced the world's first healthy baby in 2004, but it is still blank in China.
At that time, my blood was boiling, wasn't this the problem I dreamed of solving?!
After returning home, I led the team through countless nights and weekends, writing one bid after another, applying for one project after another, and completing one research and preparation after another, hoping to overcome this problem.
Little by little, the target is approaching.
In 2012, we created China's first ovarian tissue cryopreservation bank at Beijing Maternity Hospital.
On September 9, 2016, our team completed the first frozen ovarian tissue transplant in China.
In the moment of success, in front of the operating table, I hugged and cried with my team members.
In the past three years, our team has done ovarian tissue cryopreservation for nearly 400 patients and ovary transplantation for 10 patients, all of which have been successful and reached the international leading level!
Of the nearly 400 patients, the youngest Rong Rong was only 1 year and 3 months old, and she needed pelvic radiation therapy for a malignant tumor of the bladder.
Before the radiotherapy, we froze some of her ovaries, which provided a guarantee for her normal pubertal development, childbearing age fertility and health after ovarian tissue transplantation in the future.
In the past, unmarried women of childbearing age, the way to protect fertility was to freeze eggs, but even if ovulation induction was successful, the chance of freezing each egg was less than 5%, and the normal function of the ovaries could not be restored.
The cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is equivalent to the cryopreservation of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of egg reserves, the following picture is a 5-year-old girl cryopreservated 2mm diameter ovarian cortical sheet, containing more than a thousand live follicles, each highlight is a living follicle.
Now, Rong Rong is 3 and a half years old, the cancer treatment has ended, and the child is in a very good state, beautiful and smart.
Their family is very grateful to us for giving Rong Rong the good hope of being a normal girl when she grows up!
Every such affirmation is a coronation for us.
In the new year, the ovarian tissue cryopreservation transplantation technology will be promoted to the whole country to help more patients protect the ovarian function and regain the hope of fertility!
This is my New Year's resolution!
If you are lucky enough to read this article, I implore you to forward it and let more people in need understand this technology, which is Zhimei's wish.
Which women are ovarian tissue cryopreservation suitable for?
(Click on the blank space to see the answer)
Ovarian tissue cryopreservation can be used as a treatment for fertility preservation in people of all ages (35 years and younger), but there are also suitable groups, and there are currently 4 main categories of people:
1. Cancer or blood disease patients who need radiotherapy and chemotherapy
Chemoradiation can cause ovarian function to decline 10-20 years earlier.
Up to 78.3% of young cancers (e.g., breast cancer, ovarian junction tumors, cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma) have fertility needs.
If part of the ovarian tissue can be removed for cryopreservation before radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the hope of fertility can be preserved. It should be reminded that cancer patients should exclude ovarian malignancy or ovarian metastasis, and those with high risk of metastasis should be used with caution.
2. Patients with benign diseases requiring bone marrow transplantation
Because pre-transplant myeloablative chemotherapy can lead to almost 100% of ovarian decline, ovarian tissue is frozen before bone marrow transplantation.
3. Patients with benign tumors of the ovaries or severe endometriosis
For example, severe endometriosis can impair a patient's ovarian function.
Removing part of the ovarian tissue for cryopreservation while surgically treating the disease has become a routine clinical operation to protect female fertility in Italy and other European and American countries.
4. Patients with a family history of premature ovarian failure and patients with Turner's syndrome.
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