World's First Woman to Have Frozen Ovary Tissue Implanted Back is a Brit

The first woman in the world to have frozen ovary tissue implanted back is a British woman, who suffered breast cancer and was left infertile after undergoing chemotherapy.

Emma Leach, 39, had pieces of her ovaries frozen five years ago following her diagnosis and they have now been put back into her body by a robot in a pioneering operation.

Professor Kutluk Oktay, a New York-based fertility pioneer, agreed to carry out the operation.

Leach, a former businesswoman from London, went under the knife in the U.S. after a series of consultations over the Internet via Skype, but she was warned that the chances of success are low.

Her ovary was cut open by the robot and the tissue, which had been removed and frozen before her chemotherapy treatment was stitched inside.

More pieces of tissue, which were too small to stitch in, were then injected into the other ovary by the pioneering equipment.

She was discharged from hospital within hours of the procedure.

"The robotic arms mimics the movement of the hand but there is much more precision," the Daily Mail quoted Oktay, who performed the procedure for the first time, as telling the Sunday Times.

"There is no hand tremor - this allows the surgeon to do fine suturing at microscopic levels without having to put patients through invasive surgery," Oktay stated.

The robot, named Da Vinci, has previously been used for carrying out heart operations and treating cancer.

The news will give new hope to thousands of women around the world who are left infertile after going through chemotherapy.

Source: ANI