Yes, you have read it right. For the first time in history, a baby is born following a uterus transplant by a deceased donor. A leading medical journal The Lancet reports this unique case in Brazil.
This news is surprising and promising the same time as it offers hope to many people experiencing infertility problems due to uterine anomalies.
Coming back to the case, a healthy baby girl is born via cesarean section at Hospital das Clínicas, at the University of São Paulo School of Medicine. As per a report, the baby’s mother undertook a uterine transplant and then an In vitro fertilization (IVF) pregnancy, seven months apart.
The mother is a 32 years old, otherwise healthy woman who was naturally born without a uterus. She is a patient of Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome that is an extremely rare condition affecting one in 4,500 women.
The mother received a uterus donation through a 10.5-hour long surgery in 2016. The donor was a 45 years old lady who died of a stroke. The baby is a few days old right now and so far there are no negative effects or medical complications.
The mother and baby were discharged from the hospital after three days of delivery. This process of using a deceased donor’s uterus is a hope for women suffering from uterine infertility. There is no other way for a woman with uterine infertility to conceive a baby.
The medical team of this case reports that they are now authorized to do two more cases and they are also working to make their process better. The first experience of the chain has opened new possibilities for infertility patients as well as medical experts to look for extra therapeutic protocols.
Till the date, eleven children are born after a uterus transplant from live donors but this particular case has used the deceased donor. The first ever live-donor uterus transplant was performed back in September 2013 in Sweden.
There are a lot of previous attempts to deliver a baby from a deceased person’s transplanted uterus. However, they were all unsuccessful. This case is the very first where the protocol, planning, and surgery everything was impressive. That’s why it made possible the delivery of a baby from a mother with a uterus transplant.
That’s not all. The downside of this case was using the high doses of immunosuppression drugs and moderate, although manageable, but a huge amount of blood loss. Researchers believe that uterine transplant from a deceased donor may have some benefit over the live donor. More importantly, this way the uterine donation will be more commonly available. However, this suggests a complete regulation and control of organ donations procedure from deceased donors.
A uterus transplant from a live donor is a miracle but a transplant from a deceased donor is an even bigger miracle. There is a need to add a limitation to it, as the medical team suggests. Most importantly, the consent of the donor or any relative of the deceased donor is necessary. The number of people willing to donate their organs after their death offers a wider potential for making transplants possible.
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