Karine Thiriot (L) and her twin sister Stephanie. (AFP)
A French woman suffering from a chromosomal disorder – who tried for more than 10 years to have a baby – is finally a mother thanks to an ovarian transplant from her twin sister, Agence France-Presse reported.
Karine Thiriot, 39, gave birth to a baby girl on March 8 at a hospital in Paris. The baby, named Victoria, is completely healthy and free of a disorder known as Turner Syndrome, which affects both her mom and her aunt.
"It was the first such transplant in the world between twins with Turner syndrome," Dr. Jacques Donnez, a Belgian gynecologist, who carried out the operation in August 2009, told AFP.
Turner syndrome is a genetic condition that affects only females, and results from a missing or incomplete sex chromosome, the Mayo Clinic said on its website. As a result, it can cause various medical conditions including heart defects, failure to begin puberty and infertility.
In Thiriot’s case, she lacked ovaries because of the syndrome, which occurs in about 1 out of 2,000 live births. However, her twin sister was able to conceive and have two children before she made the decision to donate an ovary to her sister.
This is the first ovarian transplant to be done in Europe, according to the report.
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