Professor Antonio Pellicer, co-Director of the hospital group IVI[1] in Spain, is carrying out a clinical trial in Valence involving around twenty women. This trial involves “stimulating follicles, the precursors of oocytes, by injecting stem cells obtained from the patient’s bone marrow into the ovaries via the femoral artery”.
Six patients have already received treatment and three others “have produced oocytes generating embryos via IVF. However, only one has produced an embryo of sufficient quality to be implanted in her uterus”.
Professor Pellicer wishes to remain cautious. The trial is still only in its “early stages” and the experiment is “uncertain”. Moreover, “the chance factor cannot be ruled out at this stage”.
He welcomes the opportunity to offer an alternative to women “who nowadays want to have children later”, to “those with early onset menopause” or women “whose ovaries have been damaged by chemotherapy”.
The problem, which has been analysed by Professor Aaron Hsueh (Stanford University, California), “is that even if there is an increase in the number of oocytes produced, the quality is not improved”. Professor Hsueh actually attempted other trials along a similar vein in 2013.
[1] Group “internationally renowned in AMP”, also specializing in oocyte aspiration
Le Figaro santé (12/06/2015)