In a first, private city hospital transplants uterus

Galaxy care Laparoscopy Institute successfully transplanted uterus in a 21-yearold’s body in Pune on Thursday. This is the first ever uterus transplant in the country.

It took nine hours for a team of 12 doctors to perform the surgery on both donor and recipient. It took four hours for retrieval of uterus and five hours for transplanting it in the recipient’s body.

GCIL is the first hospital across the country that will transplant uterus. The 21year-old from Solapur born without a uterus is receiving it from her mother.

Dr Hrishikesh Patil, spokesperson, GCIL, earlier said, “A team of 12 doctors started the procedure at 12.30 in the afternoon. And we have successfully retrieved uterus from the body of the mother. Transplantation procedure has begun. However, the procedure will continue till late night. We will be able to share details of about the transplantation by tomorrow.”

Dr Shailesh Puntambekar, oncologist, GCIL, said, “The patient will remain in ICU for a week and later will be shifted to general care. We will study transplanted uterus every day during this period. We will assess immediate success of the surgery by following multiple sonography studies to see whether the uterus is receiving regular blood flow and functions. Later we will monitor her every month.”

Doctors have already extracted and preserved eight eggs from woman’s ovary and that will be implanted in transplanted uterus eight months later in a complex surgery. If and when transplant becomes successful, eggs will be implanted in her womb. A course of immunosuppressants has been started so that her body will accept the uterus. Once the baby is born, uterus will be removed so that a course of immunosuppressants have to be stopped.

Earlier the hospital took permission from a committee of Sassoon Hospital that verified all documents of the donor and recipients. Sassoon Hospital took interview of relatives of donors and recipient’s relatives to establish their relationship.

The hospital has received licence from the Directorate of Health Services Maharashtra to perform uterus transplant for five years.