Pregnancy beyond 65: report of a unique case and discussion of a controversial issue

Abstract

We present the case report of a 66-year-old woman who was attended at our gynaecology department at a tertiary university hospital in Barcelona, Spain for a high-risk pregnancy and comment on the obstetric implications and bioethical issues. We retrospectively analysed clinical data about the case and bibliographic references related to the issue. The woman underwent in vitro fertilisation of donated embryos in a private centre and came to our unit at 27 weeks of gestation for pregnancy care. At 33 weeks, she presented pre-eclampsia and a caesarean section was performed. She gave birth to healthy twin boys. Four months later, she returned to our centre with the diagnosis of ovarian cancer and died 30 months after delivery. We present the clinical course and management of this pregnancy and comment on the obstetric implications, the impact on maternal and neonatal health, and bioethical issues related to assisted reproduction techniques in pregnancies beyond the natural reproductive age.

Chinese abstract

我们在此报道一例因高危妊娠就诊于西班牙巴塞罗那一所三级教学医院妇产科的66岁女性, 并讨论其产科影响和生物伦理问题。我们回顾性分析了该病例的临床数据及相关问题的参考文献。该女性在一个私人诊所接受了体外受精的捐赠胚胎, 并于孕27周时来我院进行妊娠保健。孕33周出现子痫前期, 随后行剖宫产, 诞下一对健康双胞胎男婴。4个月后, 该患者于我中心复诊时被诊断为卵巢癌, 并于生产后30个月死亡。我们报道了该病例的临床过程及妊娠管理, 并讨论其对产科的影响、对母亲和新生儿的影响, 以及超育龄期辅助生殖技术相关的生物伦理问题。

Keywords:

• Fertility
• bioethical connotations
• pregnancy
• older women
• assisted reproduction

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Carolyn Newey for editing assistance.

Disclosure statement

None of the authors have any competing interests or conflicts to declare.

Funding

No funding was received for this study.