Can a woman who had bilateral oophorectomy conceive naturally?

Dr Vincent Karuhanga

Hello Doctor, I am 39 years old and married to a 37-year-old woman whom I started dating in secondary school. We have been trying to get pregnant for the last five years without success. Recently I stumbled on her medical records which were indicating that she had bilateral oophorectomy at nine years and, therefore, was in menopause and could not have children. Why would a girl have her ovaries removed at nine years old? Can she still have children naturally without ovaries? We desperately want to start a family but since we are Catholics, we cannot use IVF or even divorce. What options are available for us to have children? Adam
Dear Adam
For a woman to get naturally pregnant she has to have ova which upon fertilisation by a man’s sperm and implantation in the womb will result in pregnancy and child birth.

Apart from providing ova, the ovaries provide hormones that are responsible for periods among other things. Removal of both ovaries will not only lead to failure to get pregnant naturally, except through say IVF, but will also lead to surgical menopause with attendant serious menopausal symptoms.

Removal of ovaries can happen because of cancer of the ovaries or large or complicated ovarian cysts or because the ovary has twisted around its stalk (ovarian torsion).

A few women are removing their ovaries if they have inherited changes in their genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) that may put them at risk of cancer of the ovaries and breasts. But at nine years this is highly unlikely to be the reason why the ovaries were removed.

Cancer of the ovaries at nine years is very, very rare but a girl can be born with tumours called teratomas which may not be cancerous initially but turn cancerous depending on the maturity of the individual cells contained in the tumour. It is rare for teratomas to be bilateral and cancerous but it can happen.

Ovarian cysts are also rare at nine years especially if the girl has not yet started puberty but are possible with early puberty happening nowadays. Torsion of the ovaries can be a remote possibility but the chance of this happening in both ovaries at the same time is very rare.

Without ovaries, your wife cannot have children naturally except through, say, IVF.

Can I get infected with Covid-19 through sex?
Dr, since the Covid-19 virus has been detected in semen, is it possible to catch the disease by engaging in sexual intercourse with an infected person? Amir Kerali

Dear Amir
The virus that causes Covid-19 is spread mainly from person to person, through coughing, sneezing, or talking which may cause infected mucus or saliva droplets to be breathed in by a healthy person who may be close by (within two metres). Also, if the droplets fall on any surface and a healthy person touches the surface and without washing hands (or sanitising the hands), touches their mouth, nose or eyes.

Since during sex people are likely to kiss and touch these surfaces, if one is infected they risk infection. Though the virus has been detected in the semen of people who are sick or recovering from the Covid-19 virus, currently, there is no evidence of direct infection through semen or vaginal fluids.