Woman has baby after first ovary transplant

It is good news for the 38-year old German woman who last year received pioneering ovary transplant surgery at the Infertility Centre in St Louis, Missouri. At 2.50pm today her baby daughter was delivered by caesarian section. She weighed in at 7lb 15oz and is 54 centimetres long.

The decision to deliver the baby by c-section at 40 weeks and one day in the pregnancy was not connected with the mother's earlier surgery, according to Dr Sherman Silber who carried out the ovary transplant. The birth is the ninth reported worldwide to use ovary tissue transplanted from one sister to another, although the first to use a whole ovary.

The patient, who has not been identified, suffered early menopause at age 15 and has been infertile ever since. She received the ovary from her identical twin sister who lives in British Columbia. Her sister already has two children.

Dr Silber believes the procedure could benefit women who are about the receive cancer treatment such as chemotherapy which can reduce their fertility. In that case a surgeon could remove an ovary, freeze it until the treatment is over, then re-transplant back into the patient so that her fertility is restored.

Another possibility is for a woman to delay reproduction by putting an ovary on ice until she is ready to have a baby. I'm very sceptical that anyone would want to go through such a drastic procedure for this purpose though. Re-connecting the ovary is a major surgical procedure which of course entails risks - plus there is the much easier alternative of freezing eggs for future use.

The Guardian's Science Weekly podcast will have an interview with Dr Silber in Monday's show.