Scientists responsible for a new procedure praised last week for offering the possibility of reversing menopause clarified their work on Monday. They said the ovary graft is not meant to restore fertility to older menopausal women, but to help young women regain their fertility after losing their ovaries.

At a conference Monday in Toronto, Dr. Kutluk Oktay, the American physician who performed the first successful ovary graft last February, said the procedure is not a solution for women who are already menopausal, in the early stages of menopause or over the age of 35.

The much-publicized procedure involves transplanting ovary tissue kept in laboratories back into the woman it was taken from.

Margaret Lloyd-Hart

In the first case, 30-year-old Margaret Lloyd-Hart had one of her ovaries restored after having the first removed when she was a teenager and the second removed and frozen just two years ago.

Lloyd-Hart had the second operation because of a hormonal medical complaint but she had the tissue preserved in case it could one day be restored.

Oktay and others say the procedure would also be helpful to young women undergoing cancer treatment.

The egg cells contained within the ovaries are usually destroyed during the course of radiation and chemotherapy.

Using the procedure developed by British Professor Roger Gosden of Leeds University in England, the ovarian tissue could be removed before the woman is treated with radiation. The tissue could later be grafted back into the pelvic wall.

In Lloyd-Hart's case, the restored ovary did produce an egg after being stimulated with hormones.

The doctors warn, however, that the surgery is still considered experimental and its long-term risks are not known.

Gosden, who was also at the Toronto conference, is actually moving his research to Canada. He's taking up a post at a university in Montreal.