London, Aug 23 (EFE).- A woman born with a reproductive disorder has received her sister’s womb in the first uterus transplant by doctors in the United Kingdom.
As per various British media reports on Wednesday, the 34-year-old woman, who has preferred to remain anonymous, received the uterus of her sister, 40, in February.
Some 20 doctors participated in the pioneering surgery that lasted several hours at Churchill Hospital in Oxford.
The donor has two children and was willing to donate her womb for the transplant, enabling her sibling to pursue her dream of conceiving.
The woman will undergo in-vitro fertilization (IVF) using the embryos she and her husband have in storage.
The recipient was born with Type 1 Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) condition, where the uterus is absent or underdeveloped but with normally functioning ovaries.
The condition affects approximately 1 in 5,000 women.
MRKH often thwarts the ability to carry a pregnancy. However, assisted reproduction can provide an alternative path to motherhood.
Richard Smith, the leading gynecological surgeon, who spearheaded the surgical transplant, told the British media that it was a “massive success.”
“It was incredible. I think it was probably the most stressful week in my surgical career but also unbelievably positive,” Smith told media outlets.
“The donor and recipient are over the moon, just over the moon.”
He said they were both doing well and had recovered from surgery.
“I am just really happy that we have got a donor who is completely back to normal after her big operation and the recipient is, after her big operation, doing really well on her immunosuppressive therapy and looking forward to hopefully having a baby.”
The recipient needed to take immunosuppressive drugs, a crucial facet of post-transplant care, preventing tissue rejection.
While organ transplants carry some long-term health risks, the new medical milestone has offered new-found hope to thousands of aspiring mothers.
The surgeons hope that the transplanted uterus will be removed after a maximum of two pregnancies over a maximum of five years. EFE
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