How ovary transplants 'will let women have babies at any age'

Women could put off having children into their 40s and beyond by having an ovary transplant, the pioneering surgeon behind the world’s first such operation predicts.

Dr Sherman Silber said having an ovary frozen for future use for social reasons was a ‘realistic option’ and could be a solution to fertility problems caused by delayed motherhood among career women.

Women who did this in their 20s could look forward to the best of all worlds and would have their own young eggs in storage that were superior to donor eggs.

‘It’s very realistic,’ Dr Silber said. ‘Women can always have egg donation but this is so much nicer and more convenient if it’s safe. A young ovary can be transplanted back at any time and it will extend fertility and delay the menopause. You could even wait until you were 47.

‘I don’t see any problem with it at all, I don’t see a dilemma.’

Dr Silber, who transplanted a whole ovary from one identical twin to another last year, said: ‘The critical pay-off is the ability to remove the...