Scientists REVERSE the menopause and ‘turn back the fertility clock’ for older women

Scientists have managed to reverse the menopause and encourage aging ovaries to produce fertile eggs.

The technique has been proven to work in women who haven't menstruated in five years and could potentially allow women who are well into their fifties to have babies.

This treatment was pioneered by Konstantinos Sfakianoudis, a gynaecologist at a Greek fertility clinic called Genesis Athens, who told New Scientist it "offers a window of hope that menopausal women will be able to get pregnant".

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“It seems to work in about two-thirds of cases,” he added.

“We see changes in biochemical patterns, a restoration of menses, and egg recruitment and fertilisation.”

The experimental treatment involves isolating a substance called platelet-rich plasma (PRP) from women's blood.

Doctors already use PRP in a variety of treatments and it is believed to stimulate the growth of bones and muscles.

But it may also work to regenerate ovaries.

Sfakianoudis said he used it to treat a 40 year old who suffered an early menopause at 35 and she had another period six months later.

His team collected eggs from her ovaries and then managed to fertilised two using her husband's sperm. They expect to implant the eggs inside the lady in the coming months.

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The experimental treatment is a long way from being ready to be introduced in the UK or any other country. Further tests are expected to be carried out to discover whether it is truly effective.

“It is potentially quite exciting,” Roger Sturmey at Hull York Medical School told New Scientist. “But it also opens up ethical questions over what the upper age limit of mothers should be.”