A woman with a donor's uterus was able to bear and give birth to a child
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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In Sweden, there was a unique case of the birth of a child, which gave birth to a woman with a transplanted donor organ - the uterus.
The 36-year-old woman who took part in the experiment, despite some difficulties (delivery before the established term, a difficult condition of the mother), was able to bear and give birth to a completely healthy baby.
The child was born on the 32nd week weighing only 1800kg, the doctors found he had heart rhythm disturbances, but to date his condition has almost normalized, and the mother and child feel well.
Problems with the uterus, the most important organ for childbearing, can arise not only as a result of congenital anomalies, but also after anticancer therapy. In this case, the only chance for a woman to become a mother is a transplant of a donor organ.
The Swede, who became a participant of the research project, the doctors did not reveal any abnormalities in the ovaries, the woman underwent a cycle of in- vitro fertilization (IVF), which resulted in the appearance of 11 embryos.
The next step was the transplantation of the donor organ, which was taken from a woman who had already had menopause several years ago. After the transplant, the Swede took a course of drugs that prevent rejection of the alien organ. The decision to implant frozen embryos was taken one year after the operation.
It should be noted that several attempts have already been made to transplant the donor's uterus, but in one case it was necessary to remove the organ three months after the operation, as it ceased to function normally, and in another case the pregnancy of the woman ended in a miscarriage.
Before the last attempt to transplant the donor organ, scientists conducted long (more than ten years) studies on animals, which, in their opinion, was the reason for the successful operation.
However, experts warned that taking drugs that prevent the rejection of an alien organ causes significant damage to health, so in the future it will be necessary either to remove the donor organ or again take out the child.
Another unique case was the implantation of the vagina to patients who were grown from their own cells. Owners of this body are four young girls with a rare genetic anomaly, as a result of which the uterus and vagina remain underdeveloped. As the girls themselves note, in five to eight years after the operation they do not observe any problems with the organ, which functions quite normally. Also, the girls noted that they live a full-fledged sexual life.
The genetic abnormality revealed in the participants of the study - Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome, is found in about one woman of 4 thousand.
At the time of the transplant, the girls were between 13 and 18 years old. The implanted vagina was grown from the cells of the patients themselves, which prevented the rejection of the organ.
To create a perfect vagina, the experts needed an example of vulva tissue of patients who later were reproduced in the laboratory. After the tissue reached the required size, the doctors surgically made a cavity in the body, with which a part of the artificial vagina was joined, the rest was connected to the uterus.
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