Suffering from a rare tumor, doctors move her uterus and ovaries to make her a mother: “It is the first case in the world”
It is the first case in the world. In Pavia, a 30-year-old girl managed to carry a pregnancy to term despite a rare tumour. An unprecedented birth for those who have suffered first degree chondrosarcoma of the sacrum like the one she was diagnosed with in May 2019, inoperable and close to the rectum, uterus and ovaries.
The therapy involves an invasive cure, with beams of carbon ions directed to the pelvic area, which would have prevented her from conceiving. Instead, the doctors moved her uterus and ovaries to protect them from radiation, also using a silicone device called a “spacer”, which helped distance the rectum and uterus. “A completely new procedure”, said the National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy (Cnao) and the Irccs Policlinico San Matteo Foundation, calling it “a message of hope for many women”.
According to the doctors, it was necessary to dislocate the ovaries “so that they would not be affected even by a possible minimum dose of radiation” thus avoiding a radio-induced menopause. Since “every operation on the ovaries is not risk-free” for safety the patient was subjected “also to an oocyte cryopreservation”, underlined Amelia Barcellini, radiotherapist oncologist of the CNAO. Subsequently, the doctors followed “her hormonal function during all checks, without ever highlighting any alterations”.
The woman, named Angelica, gave birth to little Federica five months ago now. “I found out I got pregnant during Mother’s Day weekend last year,” she told Ansa. “After the therapies I underwent, I didn’t expect it to happen naturally or to have a pregnancy in which everything was really perfect,” added the 30-year-old, who decided to give birth to the baby in Pavia where they ” restored to life”.
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