First Uterus Transplant Done in the US; Can This Improve Women's Infertility Issues?

Cleveland Clinic has performed the country's first successful uterus transplant and this may be good news for women with fertility issues.

The first uterus transplant in the United States was performed by gynecological surgeons from Cleveland Clinic. The procedure took nine hours and was performed on a 26-year-old woman using a uterus from a deceased donor. The procedure could be the answer to some women with fertility issues, particularly those with uterine factor infertility (UFI).

"Women who are coping with UFI [uterine factor infertility] have few existing options," Dr. Tommasco Falcone, an obstetrician-gynecologist and Cleveland Clinic Women's Health Institute chairman, said last year. "Although adoption and surrogacy provide opportunities for parenthood, both pose logistical challenges and may not be acceptable due to personal, cultural or legal reasons."

Women who suffer from UFI cannot get pregnant as they either are born without a uterus, have lost the organ to a disease or theirs do not function anymore. It is not known what causes UFI in some women born without a uterus.

Late last year, Cleveland Clinic enlisted 10 women who are eligible for the uterine transplant procedure as part of a clinical trial. Women who are approved for the procedure have to have some of her eggs removed from her ovaries similar to in vitro fertilization and then free the embryos. They will be implanted a year later after the transplant.

After the operation, women will need to be on immune system-suppressing drugs to prevent organ rejection and also have monthly biopsies. Babies conceived after the successful transplant and implantation will have to be delivered by Caesarian section. The transplanted uterus can also be removed after a couple of children so the patient will need not have to keep taking the drugs.

"Unlike any other transplants, they are 'ephemeral,'" said Dr. Andreas Tzakis in a statement last year. "They are not intended to last for the duration of the recipient's life, but will be maintained for only as long as is necessary to produce one or two children."

The patient is in stable in condition and the hospital will be releasing more information in a press conference scheduled next week in Cleveland, Ohio.

While this is the first uterus transplant done in the United States, Sweden and Turkey have tried this operation and have had successful births. A 36-year-old mother gave birth to a healthy baby boy in 2014 after a successful uterine transplant in Sweden.