Reversing menopause possible for older women, scientists say
“It offers a window of hope that menopausal women will be able to get pregnant using their own genetic material.”
Menopause is that period in a woman’s life between her 40s and 50s that many dread and wish wouldn’t come.
Accompanied by symptoms such as irregular periods, vaginal dryness, hot flashes, night sweats and mood changes; menopause is considered an unwelcome but inevitable change in women’s bodies.
Now researchers are saying that there’s a chance women need not worry about it.
“A team of researchers say they have found a way to restart periods by rejuvenating ovaries to release fertile eggs,” said a Mirror report. “They claim the technique even worked on a woman who had not menstruated in five years.”
According to the report, researchers say they have successfully fertilized two eggs using her husband’s sperm and the embryos are now on ice before they are implanted in her uterus.
Furthermore, another 30 menopause women who still want have children had undergone the same treatment; a third of the cases were successful.
Gynecologist Konstantinos Sfakianoudis from the Greek fertility clinic Genesis Athens said of the breakthrough: “It offers a window of hope that menopausal women will be able to get pregnant using their own genetic material.”
A woman’s fertility peaks at her 20s, and from there continues on a downward slope.
Although most women experience menopause in their 50s, it can also come early for one percent of the female population—usually brought on by a medical condition or certain cancer treatments.
Despite this, the researchers discovered that ovaries can be “restarted” with a blood treatment that promotes faster wound healing called Platelet-rich plasma (PRP).
PRP encourages tissue and blood vessel growth.
As per the New Scientist, when PRP is injected into older ovaries, researchers found that it also restarts the menstrual cycle which then allows researchers to collect the released egg and fertilize them.
However, researchers are adamant that more studies are being done to estimate how effective the treatment really is.
“It is potentially quite exciting,” said Roger Sturmey at Hull York Medical School in the UK said. “But it also opens up ethical questions over what the upper age limit of mothers should be.
“Where would the line be drawn?”
