Uterine transplantation can help bear child

Uterine transplantation is a procedure developed to enable women without a uterus or with a damaged uterus to become pregnant. The operation involves transplanting a uterus from a living or deceased donor to the recipient.

Uterus transplant can be considered as an alternative to surrogacy or adoption. Organ transplants are successful only if the transplanted organ adapts to the host’s body, but in the case of a uterus transplant, success is defined more narrowly, such as, apart from the organ being stable in the body, it must help the woman bear a healthy child.

Talking about the developments of uterine transplantation in the medical field, Dr Padmapriya Vivek, HoD, Obstetrics, Gynaecology & IVF, Gleneagles Global Health City, said, “First successful uterine transplantation happened in Sweden in 2014 and nearly 72 cases of uterus transplants have been done globally, out of which 18 live births were reported. In India, the first uterus transplant baby was born in 2017.”

Transplantation of a uterus, unlike any other organ transplantation, involves four parties – recipient, donor, partner of the recipient, and the possible future child, added Dr Padmapriya Vivek.

Over 6 lakh women in India are born without a uterus and hence the uterus transplant can serve as an alternative to people who want to experience their own pregnancy rather than going for surrogacy or adoption.

Uterine transplantation is a complex procedure and is surrounded not only by medical and psychological implications, but also ethical, moral, and cultural concerns and expectations.

Medicos say that uterus transplant allows a woman with

Absolute Uterine Factor Infertility (AUFI) to have a baby.

The AUFI condition is due to congenital or surgical absence of uterus or presence of a non-functional uterus. Thus, women who are born without uterus but have their native ovaries intact and women who lost their uterus due to medical conditions like fibroids and cancer.

The transplantation procedure will commence with the uterus being removed along with its blood supply from the donor’s body and transplanted to the recipient through microvascular anastomosis. Before performing the transplant surgery, the recipient should undergo a controlled ovarian hyper stimulation and egg collection.

The recipient’s husband’s sperm and the recipient’s egg is fertilized through the method IVF-ICSI and embryo cryopreservation will be performed in order to use them for embryo transfer after successful transplantation.

“Women with uterine malformations and those who have other damages to the uterus can get a uterus transplant done. Uterus can be transplanted from any cadaveric or living donor that matches the receiver as per the selection criteria. Women in good health and between the ages of 40-60 can donate their uterus to someone in need,” said senior obstetrician, Dr R Shanthi.

Successful uterus transplant is when the organ not only adapts to the recipient’s body but also helps the woman to bear a healthy child without any complications