A woman experiencing menopause has given birth after receiving a blood treatment injected into her ovaries. Three perimenopausal women – those beginning to transition into menopause – have also had babies following the treatment, according to a small pilot study.
Known as platelet-rich plasma, the technique is being developed as a potential fertility treatment by Konstantinos Pantos and his colleagues at the Genesis Athens fertility clinic in Greece.
Around 60 millilitres of blood is taken from the arm and spun in a centrifuge to remove red and white blood cells. The remaining plasma contains platelets, cell fragments that help blood clot and appear to play a role in the regeneration of tissues. This platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, is then injected into both ovaries.
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Pantos and his colleagues have been offering PRP as a paid service for the past five years. “We have treated several hundred women,” says Pantos. Some want to get pregnant or reduce menopause symptoms, while others want to restore hormone levels to feel younger.
As part of a pilot trial, the team tested the effects of PRP in 30 perimenopausal women and 30 menopausal women between 2017 and 2019. The perimenopausal women were all aged 40 or over and had irregular periods, high levels of hormones that are elevated in menopause or both. The menopausal volunteers were aged between 45 and 55, hadn’t had a period for at least a year and also had high hormone levels. None of the women had to pay.
Within three months of receiving PRP, 80 per cent of the perimenopausal women showed improvements in hormone levels and had their periods fall into a regular cycle. Four of the women became pregnant within this three-month window, and three went on to have babies.
Of the 30 menopausal women who received PRP, 13 had their periods restored and experienced significant shifts in their hormone levels. One of these women became pregnant within three months of treatment, and she has since given birth. None of these women had IVF, and they weren’t required to be trying to get pregnant to be part of the study.
Many of the women also reported improvements in their menopause symptoms, says Pantos, who presented the findings at a .
Because PRP wasn’t tested against a placebo, it isn’t clear if it improves fertility in menopausal women. But the chance of conception in women with poorly functioning ovaries is only around 5 per cent over the course of their lives, says Scott Nelson at the University of Glasgow, UK. “The four cases would be higher than expected,” he says.
Richard Anderson at the University of Edinburgh, UK, isn’t convinced by the results, though. “It’s extremely preliminary,” he says. He points out that treatments can look good in pilot studies and then fail in more rigorous trials.
Emre Seli at Yale University also has concerns, but adds that he has seen . “I can’t tell you 100 per cent that this is going to be a super useful intervention,” says Seli. “But I find it very exciting.”
It isn’t clear how, if at all, PRP might be working. “There are loads of questions that we still have to answer,” says Mara Simopoulou at the University of Athens, Greece, who has been working with Pantos.
Much more research is needed before PRP can be considered as a fertility treatment. Pantos’s team is running four randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trials, while Seli is running another two. These studies should clarify whether PRP is any better than a placebo. “It’s still research, and it needs to be kept that way until we know more about it,” says Pantos.
Birth story
Aisha’s* hopes of having a second child were dashed when she became menopausal aged 38. Aisha, who lives in Dubai, had been having IVF treatment at the time. “Doctors told me I could not have a child anymore,” she says.
She opted to pay for an injection of platelet-rich plasma, administered by Konstantinos Pantos and his colleagues at the Genesis Athens fertility clinic in Greece (she wasn’t part of the trial discussed in the main story). After treatment, her periods restarted, and levels of a hormone called AMH, which is thought to indicate egg reserve, increased tenfold.
She restarted IVF, but didn’t make progress and didn’t have any embryos implanted. Six months later, she returned to Athens for a second treatment. “This time I could feel the difference,” she says. “I could see it in my looks, and I felt younger.” Within a few months, Aisha conceived her daughter without IVF.
*Not her real name
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