Uterus Transplant

Approximately 15,000 women in the UK have no uterus. The reasons for this vary but are mostly caused uterus removal surgery (hysterectomy) to fix health problems like severe endometriosis. Some women are born without a uterus and some have ones that are too weak or damaged (often from uterine fibroids) to carry a child to term. For these women, a revolutionary new surgery may be the solution to this unique type of infertility. If regularly successful, this type of surgery could provide women without a uterus an alternative to adoption or surrogate pregnancy.

The First Uterus Transplant

In 2000 Saudi Arabian Dr. Wafa Fagee completed the world's first successful uterus transplant. Many people in the medical community consider the surgery to be successful because the recipient didn't die and the organ survived for weeks. Others consider the procedure a failure because the uterus only survived 99 days.

The uterus transplant was performed on a 26-year-old woman whose own uterus had hemorrhaged after childbirth and needed to be removed. The donor was a 46-year-old woman who had her uterus removed for medical reasons. Dr. Fagee attached the donor uterus to the recipient's blood supply. The woman was then given immunosuppressant drugs so her body wouldn't reject the new organ. Fertility drugs were prescribed to encourage ovulation and thickening of the uterus lining.

The woman had two spontaneous menstrual cycles after the surgery. When she didn't have another period, an exploratory laparotomy was done. It was discovered the uterus had died.

In 1931 one of the world's earliest uterine transplants was done on Lili Elbe, an individual born with the intersexual condition Harry Benjamin Syndrome (HBS). Elbe was born anatomically man and had surgery done to remove the testicles and the penis. She then underwent an unsuccessful ovary transplant. In 1931, nearing the age of 50, Elbe had a uterus transplant but died from organ rejection three months later.

The Future

In the United States, research is now in progress to find a suitable uterus transplant and recipient for a successful pregnancy. The goal is to transplant the uterus from a deceased woman. The recipient would be given immunosuppressant drugs and the doctors would wait three months to see if the transplant was successful and if it is safe to proceed. An embryo transfer (IVF) would be done to help the woman conceive. If implantation is successful, the pregnancy would closely be monitored. If the recipient carried to full term, the baby would be removed by c-section and so would her uterus since the damage to the organ would likely be irreparable.

No baby has been born from a uterus transplant yet.