First uterus transplant in the USA offers pregnancy hope

The first uterus transplant in the United States was performed by gynecological surgeons from Cleveland Clinic. The clinic said the surgery was performed on a 26-year-old woman, using a uterus from a deceased donor. The woman will have to wait a year if the transplant is successful before embryos can be implanted.

A news conference with the medical team will be scheduled next week in Cleveland.

Chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Women’s Health Institute and resident obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Tomasso Falcone stated that women diagnosed with Uterine Factor Infertility (UFI) required an alternative operation to overcome infertility caused by fibroids, genetic malformations, under development and scarring of the uterus.

The hospital did not identify the recipient of the first uterus transplant in the United States. After the woman has one to two babies, the transplanted uterus will removed, the Cleveland Clinic said.

Women who might be candidates for such a transplant have ovaries but were either born without a uterus, have lost it or have suffered irreversible uterine damage, the hospital explained.

While the transplant seems to have gone well, there are still many steps yet left before the woman is able to carry a child.

Before it takes place, the woman’s eggs are harvested, fertilized and frozen for implantation later in the new uterus.

After the operation, women will need to be on immune system-suppressing drugs to prevent organ rejection and also have monthly biopsies.

Uterine transplants have been completed successfully at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. In one case, the uterus became diseased and had to be removed after three months. The babies have been born healthy and the risk to the mothers has been minimal.

According to Dr. Susan Newman writing for Psychology Today, adoption is increasingly “snarled, discouraging, and costly” and that’s true whether you adopt in the US or internationally.

Babies conceived in the transplanted uterus could only be birthed via caesarian section and followed with the removal of the uterus after the second gestation in order to stop the anti-rejection drugs taken by the patient.