The world’s first baby was born to a Brazilian woman who had a uterus transplanted from a deceased donor. The 32-year-old woman delivered the baby girl via C-section in December 2017.
The baby is the world’s first to be born from a donor uterus that was transplanted from a woman who had recently died.
The birth mom was born without a uterus. The 45-year-old deceased donor died from a stroke.
Doctors connected the donor uterus by linking it to the woman’s vaginal canal and attaching veins, arteries and ligaments to the uterus.
The uterus was removed after the baby was delivered when the mother showed signs of rejection.
In order to keep the uterus after birth, the mother would have to continue taking immune system suppression drugs to keep the body from rejecting the organ.
A dozen babies have been born from live donor transplants around the world. The latest was born in 2017 at a hospital in Dallas, Texas.
Doctors are hailing the baby’s birth as a breakthrough for women with fertility issues or women who born with a uterus who want to carry their own babies.
Women who have irreversible infertility are the primary candidates to receive a uterine transplant, according to doctors.
But doctors caution that the uterus transplant procedure is risky, very expensive and complicated.
Other risks include blood mismatch or severe infection of the transplanted uterus.
Doctors say adoptions and surrogate births are still the best options for women born without a uterus, or women with cancer and infertility issues.
Surrogate births carry lower risks and the cost is more affordable than a uterine transplant.
Uterus transplants from deceased donors would ideally come from a live family member who is willing to donate it upon their deaths. The pool of deceased donors is larger than live donor transplants.
“The surgery involved is extensive, and there is the needed for anti-rejection medication post-operatively,” OB/GYN Dr. Jennifer Ashton told ABC News. “While uterine surrogacy is legal in the U.S., this offers an option, albeit an extreme and expensive one, to women who want to carry their own baby.”
The first uterus transplant for men is still years away. Doctors say science isn’t advanced enough for men to give birth. Research is ongoing.
