The Times - UK (2020-11-14)

28 2GM Saturday November 14 2020 | the times

News

A woman whose ovaries had failed due
to early menopause has successfully
given birth after using a pioneering
technique to reawaken the ovaries with
stem cells.
One woman in 100 in the UK suffers
from premature ovarian failure, known
as early menopause. This can mean
that if they want to have children using
IVF, they must use eggs from a donor.
However, doctors in Spain have re-
ported the birth of a baby girl to a 38-
year-old mother with premature ovari-
an failure using one of her own eggs.
They used a technique known as Ascot

‘Polypill’ with aspirin offers

hope of fewer heart attacks

A “polypill” packed with four different

medications to treat high blood pres-

sure and cholesterol can cut the risk of

heart attacks and strokes by up to 40

per cent when taken with aspirin, a

study has suggested.

Scientists have also found that when

taken on its own on a daily basis, the

polypill may reduce the risk of cardio-

vascular events by about 20 per cent

among those who had no previous

heart disease or stroke incidents but

were at intermediate risk.

The researchers said the findings,

published in the New England Journal of

Medicine, could help save millions of

people from experiencing serious heart

disease or stroke each year. They said

that the medication is convenient for

patients to use as it combines multiple

drugs in a single pill that can be taken

once a day.

Prem Pais, co-principal investigator

of the study and professor at St John’s

Medical College and Research Institute

in Bangalore, India, said: “A polypill is

not only effective, it is likely to be cost

effective since it is based on using

commonly used generic drugs.

“A polypill is convenient for patients

to use as it combines several effective

drugs in a single pill and is taken once a

day, which would be expected to

improve adherence.”

Cardiovascular diseases are the No 1

cause of deaths globally, taking nearly

18 million lives each year, according to

the World Health Organisation.

In the UK, there are more than seven

million people living with heart and

circulatory diseases, which cause

nearly 170,000 deaths each year.

As part of the international study, the

researchers recruited 5,714 participants

from nine countries, with men aged 50

or older and women 55 or older. The

participants were followed for almost

five years.

The polypill used in the study

consisted of four medications:

simvastatin to treat cholesterol, along

with ramipril, atenolol and

hydrochlorothiazide to reduce high

blood pressure.

Soft toys, hard cash Daniel Agnew, a teddy and doll expert, with a Strunz Jester

bear from 1904 and others from the childhood collection of Anne Parsons, the

Countess of Rosse, which is expected to sell for up to £120,000 at auction

Woman gives birth in stem cell breakthrough

(autologous stem cell ovarian trans-

plantation). It involved taking medica-

tion to encourage the bone marrow to

produce stem cells, which were then ex-

tracted and delivered into the ovary.

That encouraged it to grow and release

eggs which could be harvested, fertil-

ised and reimplanted in the womb.

The mother, who wishes to remain

anonymous, said that she had experi-

enced months with no periods but a

pregnancy test proved negative. “I de-

cided then to visit a gynaecologist,” she

said. “He did a medical examination

and told me my ovaries had stopped.”

Two gynaecologists told her that egg

donation was her only option. “I don’t

think egg donation is a bad option at all,

but I wanted to try everything before

opting for it,” she said.

She came across the Ascot technique

being offered as part of a clinical trial by

the IVI chain of fertility clinics and was

accepted as a research participant.

After the stem cells were introduced,

doctors checked for a response every

two weeks. They were able to harvest

eggs and those resulted in a healthy

pregnancy.

The woman’s case was part of an

interim report presented in July at the

European Society of Human Repro-

duction and Embryology’s annual

meeting. There were signs that simply

“mobilising” stem cells and allowing

them to make their own way to the

ovary through the bloodstream might

have similar effects, making the process

much less invasive.

Nuria Pellicer, a gynaecologist at the

Hospital la Fe, Valencia, said the patient

had had “almost no chance of success-

ful pregnancy with classic in vitro fertil-

isation procedures”. She urged caution

until the study was complete but added:

“We aim to develop a technique that is

as minimally invasive as possible over

time and standardise it so that it can be

implemented in all our clinics.”

The technique also has potential im-

plications for managing symptoms of

early menopause, with some women

even restarting their periods after

treatment. Geeta Nargund, medical di-

rector at Create Fertility and an NHS

consultant in reproductive medicine,

said that the results were encouraging,

but there were reasons to be cautious

without further research.

She said: “It is well known in this

group of patients that ‘ovarian awaken-

ing’ can occur spontaneously for brief

periods. Therefore, an age-matched

control group is essential before too

many conclusions can be drawn.

Nevertheless, the authors must be con-

gratulated for their innovative treat-

ment to solve this intractable problem.”

Kat Lay Health Editor

ZACHARY CULPIN/BNPS