A mother has donated her uterus to her 21-year-old daughter

   

43-year-old mother has successfully donated her womb to her 21-year-old daughter, who was born without a uterus, with the hopes that her child can experience childbirth. The surgery was the first of its kind in India and was performed by a team of doctors at Pune’s Galaxy Care Hospital in the city of Pune in south-west India.

Ther womb transfer took place yesterday, led by the hospital’s medical director, Dr. Shailesh Puntambekar. It lasted for nine and a half hours in total and both mother and daughter are fine and in recovery. The 21-year-old will have to wait for one year to give her body enough time to heal and adjust to the new uterus before she considers trying to get pregnant via in-vitro fertilization (IVF). She is currently under observation and will be kept in Intensive Care Unit for some days

“The patient was born without a uterus and she wanted to have her own baby and was not ready for adoption or surrogacy. Since they knew about the uterus transplant, they approached us and accepted the surgery option,” Dr Shailesh Puntambekar said. “Fortunately, her mother was found to be a medically suitable uterus donor for her.”

He added: “The procedure is difficult because multiple large arteries are to be joined there, and veins that are small and short. It is technically very tough.”

The patient will have to wait a year before trying to become pregnant through in-vitro fertilization (IVF), giving her body enough time to heal and adjust to the new uterus.

According to Dr. Mats Brännström, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Sweden's University of Gothenburg, only six babies have ever been delivered from a uterus transplant -- two from the same mother.

It remains to be seen whether India's first transplant will result in a birth.

"We are responsible for the patient and fulfilling their dreams of becoming a mother, which was impossible for them until now," Puntambekar said, adding that he was aware of the "responsibility on his shoulders," but was feeling "relaxed and confident."

Successful uterus transplants are rare because of the complexity of the procedure involved: this was the first attempt at the pioneering surgery in India and only the 30th attempt in the world.

Attempts have also taken place in the United States, Brazil, Sweden, China, Germany, Serbia, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, said Brännström

In a condition known as absolute uterine infertility, an absent, removed or diseased uterus can render a woman infertile. It affects one in 500 women of fertile age, or about 1.5 million women globally.

Uterus transplants could be a way for women with absolute uterine infertility to conceive, rather than having to adopt or opt for surrogacy.

The process of a uterus transplant begins with IVF, where the eggs are removed from the patient, fertilized with sperm and then the resulting embryos are frozen.

source: cnn