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Tag: uterus transplant

  • Womb Transplant of Nine Women In Works

    A uterine transplant isn’t so far fetched when you think about how far the medical industry has come. Heart, liver and kidney transplants are becoming the norm these days. With the newest transplant attempts of hands, faces and other body parts to improve patients’ quality of life are becoming more common as well.

    So, for all women who couldn’t have children due to partial hysterectomies, or were born without a uterus, they can now be considered for a uterine transplant. According to experts, as long as the ovaries are intact and still producing eggs, they can become pregnant by insemination.

    Most of the women that have been included in the trial for uterine transplants are in their 30s and are part of the first major experiment to test whether it’s possible to transplant wombs into women so they can give birth to their own children.

    Doctors in Turkey have already attempted a uterus transplant with Derya Sert that occurred in August 2011. They also successfully implanted an embryo from Sert’s own egg and she became pregnant. Sert’s pregnancy was terminated after 8 weeks when a heartbeat wasn’t detected.

    Dr. Mats Brannstrom, of the University of Gothenberg, who has been leading the experimental fertility project, hopes the technique could help other women who want to become pregnant.

    He says up to 15,000 women in the UK could stand to benefit. This includes women either born without a womb or who have womb problems that stop them conceiving.

    The 9 women in this latest transplant project were born without a uterus or had it removed because of cervical cancer. Most are in their 30s and are part of the first major experiment to test whether it is possible to transplant wombs into women so they can give birth to their own children.

    “This is a new kind of surgery,” Dr. Brannstrom told Associated Press in an interview from Gothenburg. “We have no textbook to look at.”

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  • Uterus Transplant: Mother-To-Daughter Surgery Goes Well

    Doctors at the University of Goteborg in Sweden are waiting to see whether or not they can call two uterus transplant surgeries a success after two women donated the organs to their daughters. Doctors say they are optimistic after the procedures went smoothly, but that the real test will be whether the women can carry healthy babies to term.

    The surgeries aren’t the first of their kind, but a similar one in Saudi Arabia led to the uterus being removed due to a blood clot. Doctors say the risk of complications is greatly lessened when the donor is a blood relative of the recipient, but with something as fragile as a womb, anything can happen.

    The procedure, if successful, could prove to be life-changing for women who can’t have babies on their own.

    “There’s no doubt this will be a pioneering step if it’s been successful,” said Scott Nelson, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. “At present, the only option for these women is to have a surrogacy, i.e. having their embryos implanted into another woman.”

    There are significant risks involved with the transplant, however, such as the womb having fewer blood vessels than would be found in the patient’s own. This could lead to insufficient development of the fetus. Also, if one of the new recipients does become pregnant, she will only be allowed two full-term pregnancies with the organ in order to stop the mandatory use of anti-rejection drugs (which stop the body from rejecting the foreign organ).

    Still, such a significant step in science could make a huge impact in the world of infertility, and many are hopeful that the results will be better than expected.