![Stem Cell Therapy Helps Reverse Early Menopause and Restore Fertility Stem Cell Therapy Helps Reverse Early Menopause and Restore Fertility](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/stemcells5.jpg)
‘Young women with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) may be able to use their bone marrow stem cells to rejuvenate their ovaries and avoid the effects of premature menopause.’
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The researchers plan to enroll 33 participants in their clinical trial. For the two patients who have undergone the procedure so far, they collected each woman's own mesenchymal stem cells from her posterior iliac crest bone marrow and used minimally invasive laparoscopy to inject the cells into one ovary, keeping the second, untreated, ovary as a control. The authors followed the patients closely with frequent blood work, imaging of the ovaries, menopausal symptom questionnaires, and safety studies. ![twitter](https://images.medindia.net/icons/news/social/twitter.png)
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Now that both women's estrogen levels have increased significantly and they have begun to menstruate, the research team looks forward to the possibility that they may again become fertile.
"Ultrasound imaging of treated ovaries shows significant size increase in the treated ovaries compared to the contralateral untreated ovaries. In the cases completed so far, the patients have tolerated the treatment very well with no complications or side effects," Al-Hendy said.
The ovaries produce hormones and eggs typically until menopause in the early fifties, when they stop working. About 1 percent of women have POI, and some are as young as in their teens, the authors wrote in their abstract.
With POI, the ovaries stop working and the women enter early menopause. They lose the ability to menstruate, ovulate and have children using their own eggs, and they may be at increased risk for menopausal symptoms including hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings and vaginal dryness, and for cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis-related fracture and earlier cognitive function decline, Al-Hendy said.
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Source-Eurekalert