The donor uterus transplant operation and subsequent IVF for the first time in the United States resulted in the birth of a healthy child.
The woman, who was born without a uterus, gave birth to a healthy baby, TIME magazine reported. The birth was attended by obstetricians at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. The child's gender, weight and date of birth were not disclosed.
The baby's mother's womb was donated by a 36-year-old nurse, a mother of two. The organ transplant was performed by surgeon Lisa Johanesson from the same university medical center. This is the first case of pregnancy and successful vaginal delivery in a woman with a transplanted uterus in the United States; previously, doctors from Sweden did the same; in the Swedish operation, Johanesson participated as an assistant surgeon.
Uterine transplant is considered the only way to enable motherhood for women diagnosed with uterine factor infertility - congenital or acquired anatomical abnormalities of the uterus and endometrium. In different cases of uterine factor of infertility, the organ is either completely absent or dysfunctional.
The father is holding the child, who was born through a donor uterus transplant operation. Credit: Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas / TIME.
The first US uterus transplant program was launched in Kansas last year; During the year, surgeons performed eight out of ten planned 10-hour operations. Three of them failed. Donors are healthy adult women of reproductive age who have given birth to more than one healthy child.
After transplantation of a healthy uterus, in vitro fertilization is required, since during transplantation, the fallopian tubes of the expectant mother are not withdrawn into the donor uterus. The oocyte for fertilization is obtained before the operation, fertilized with the father's sperm and frozen. After recovery, which usually takes about a year, the embryo is transplanted into the uterus; if all goes well, the egg continues to divide, the fetus develops, and the baby is born naturally.
Ksenia Malysheva
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