Is menopause reversible? The surprising answer may be: Yes.

That's the upshot of new research by a Greek fertility clinic that has claims to have found a way to rejuvenate post-menopausal ovaries, enabling them to release fertile eggs, New Scientist reports.

If the results hold up in follow-up studies, the technique could one day boost declining fertility in older women, allow women with early menopause to get pregnant, and help stave off the detrimental health effects of menopause, including hot flashes.

“It offers a window of hope that menopausal women will be able to get pregnant using their own genetic material,” says Konstantinos Sfakianoudis, a gynaecologist at the Greek fertility clinic Genesis Athens.

Around the age of 50, when menopause normally occurs, women's ovaries stop releasing eggs. But the Greek procedure allows that process to continue.