TIME reported that, for the first time in the United States, a baby was born to a woman who had a uterus transplant. The birth took place at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. TIME protected the privacy of the woman and her husband in order to protect their identity.
This was the first birth of the hospital’s ongoing uterus transplant clinical trial. The women who participated in the trial have absolute uterine factor infertility (AUI). This could mean that their uterus is nonfunctional or is nonexistent. Some of the women in the program have Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) which causes the vagina and uterus to be underdeveloped or absent. Women with this condition usually do not have periods.
Taylor Siler, a registered nurse in the Dallas area, donated her uterus to women without one. It just so happened that her uterus went to the woman who gave birth in Dallas. Women in the program can receive a uterus from either a living or deceased donor. The recipients in the clinical trial are between the ages of 20 and 35, and must have functioning ovaries. Donors must be between the ages of 30 and 60.
A woman who receives a transplanted uterus must wait to recover and start menstruation before in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is can be attempted. The women in the trial have functioning ovaries that are not attached to their wombs, so IVF is necessary in order for a pregnancy to occur.
It should be noted that a uterus transplants are a very new procedure, and the process is still in trial stages. Baylor University Medical Center says uterus transplants should not be viewed as a replacement for other approaches like adoption or surrogacy. Instead, it is a potential option for women and their partners.
Those who are seeking more information about the uterus transplant procedure can view a full infographic that is on the Baylor University Medical Center website. The procedure is also being called a womb transplant.
Image by Hey Paul Studios on Flickr
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