A woman who is 95% genetically male was fertilised using IVF and gave birth to twins.

Prescott Pym / CC by

Born with no ovaries, the mother who has 95% male genes was able to give birth after 3 years of innovative treatment. The woman gave birth to a boy and girl by caesarean, in the remarkable medical feat.

Without ovaries, the mother has never been able to menstruate, but doctors in India were able to aid the woman in conceiving and giving birth to children by developing her uterus. Before the treatment the woman’s uterus was described as infantile.

Fewer than 5 successful cases

There have been fewer than 5 successful cases, where women with the condition have been able to give birth. Women who have IVF and do not have the condition, still only have a small chance of success. The chances of assisted reproduction has a low success rate of 35-40%.

The condition is called XY Gonadal Dysgenisis. This means that the person will show external characteristics of a gender, but doesn’t have fully functional gonads or ovaries, the necessary organs for reproduction. In the woman’s case, externally she has female characteristics but internally she has no ovaries, so no eggs can be made to reproduce.

Mother unaware of condition

The mother was unaware of her condition before she started trying for children, and she and her partner were shocked to find she had mostly male genes, though her husband was very supportive of the condition.

As the woman was unable to produce eggs, the Doctors had to create embryos using a donor egg and develop the woman’s uterus in order to help her conceive.

Once she became pregnant the doctors then had to follow the process of helping her carry the pregnancy, as her body was not designed for it.

Junior

Though not quite the same leap in medicine seen in the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito film Junior, Sunil Jindal the infertility specialist who administered the pioneering treatment explained to The Times of India, “This is something similar to a male delivering twins.”

Openhouse sell bespoke bags and kits to aid the medical industry. If you are involved in prenatal or postnatal areas of medicine then you might like to view our Midwife bags, please take a look now.