LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) _ A doctor at the University of Kansas Hospital is testing a procedure to limit the effects of cancer treatment on women.

Infertility or symptoms of menopause are common among female cancer patients in their 30s or 40s.

Dr. Samuel Kim is working on an experimental procedure that has stopped early onset menopause. It may prove that it can maintain fertility even after aggressive chemotherapy.

The procedure involves removing a woman's ovary, saving it, then implanting it after she is cancer free.

Kim says that in clinical trials, the ovary then starts to produce hormones that stop the menopause-like symptoms. It also will produce a follicle that can be fertilized and implanted in a woman's uterus.

Kim cautions that the procedure is in the very early stages, and it's experimental.