Baby is born from womb of dead woman
Transplant hope for thousands
A WOMAN has become the first in the world to have a baby after receiving a womb transplant from a dead donor. The birth of the healthy girl marks a milestone in the development of womb transplants, offering hope of motherhood to thousands of infertile women. Although 11 babies have previously been born using wombs from live donors, experts say the ability to use the wombs of the dead could boost the numbers of women who might benefit.
The breakthrough, in Brazil, involved an unnamed 32-year- old married woman born without a womb.
She received the womb of a 45-year-old woman who died from a stroke. Her heart, liver and kidneys were also used in transplants.
Seven months after the womb transplant, surgeons inserted eggs which had been fertilised using IVF. The woman gave birth last December in Sao Paulo to a healthy girl weighing 5lb 10oz.
According to results published in the Lancet medical journal, when the baby was last checked at the age of seven months, she was developing normally.
Study leader Dr Dani Ejzenberg, of the Hospital das Clinicas in Sao Paulo, said: ‘The use of deceased donors could greatly broaden access to this treatment, and our results provide proof-of-concept for a new option for women with uterine infertility.
‘The need for a live donor is a major limitation as donors are rare, typically being willing and eligible family members or close friends.
‘The numbers of people willing and committed to donate organs upon their own deaths are far larger than those of live donors, offering a much wider potential donor population.’
Live donors also have to undergo a hysterectomy – a risky major operation. The breakthrough brings new hope to the 15,000 British women who want children but were born with no womb or had it removed.
Previous births using donated wombs, all in Sweden or the US since 2013, have relied on an infertile woman finding another woman – usually a mother or sister – willing to have a hysterectomy.
The advance could significantly increase the pool of potential donations.
British surgeons are preparing to carry out the first UK womb transplants on three women next year using live donors.
The British team last night welcomed the breakthrough. Dr Srdjan Saso of Imperial College London, said: ‘It is extremely exciting.’
The team already has permission to carry out 15 transplants, five using live donations and ten using dead donors – but until now nobody knew whether a womb from a dead woman would work.
Scientists around the world had tried the method on ten previous occasions, but only one woman subsequently became pregnant, and she miscarried.
Professor Andrew Shennan, of King’s College London, said: ‘This opens the possibility of women donating their womb following death, as with many other organs.’