In Belgium, a 27 year old woman is the first in the world to give birth to a baby using transplanted ovarian tissue frozen. Her ovary removed at age 13, just before she began invasive treatment for sickle cell anaemia. Her remaining ovary failed following the treatment, meaning she would have been unlikely to conceive without the transplant.

Experts hope that this procedure could eventually help other young patients. The woman gave birth to a healthy boy in November 2014 and details of the case were published yesterday in the journal Human Reproduction.