Clinic Offers Uterus Transplant to Help Infertile Women Get Pregnant

A clinic in Cleveland, Ohio is taking on a new approach that will help willing parents conceive. The unique method involves transplanting an entire uterus to the potential parent.

New York Times reported that, in the next few months, the Cleveland Clinic will be the first in the United States to perform uterine transplantation to women who do not have one, so that they may get pregnant and deliver babies. The organs will come from deceased individuals while donees are women who have a damaged or removed uterus or born without one. Furthermore, the transplant will be temporary and the uterus will be taken out after the patient has delivered one or two babies. The recipient will need to take transplant anti-rejection medications as long as they have the new uterus.

In a research published on Clinical Trials, Cleveland Clinic will conduct uterus transplants among 10 women who have uterine factor infertility (UFI). Experts estimate that thousands of women of childbearing age around the globe have UFI. Some may have congenital UTI while others may have damaged or lost their uterus due to hysterectomy, pelvic or abdominal surgery or a serious pelvic infection. The participants in the study will get full support from a Cleveland Clinic team, consisting of doctors, bioethicists, psychologists, social workers and patient advocates. The team has been approved to proceed with the study.

“Although there appears to be potential for treating UFI with uterine transplantation, it is still considered highly experimental. Cleveland Clinic has a history of innovation in transplant and reproductive surgery and will explore the feasibility of this approach for women in the United States,” said Tommaso Falcone, MD, Chair of Ob/Gyn& Women’s Health Institute.

Falcone added that women who have UFI only have a few available options when planning to become parents. Adoption and surrogacy may offer some benefits, there are also logistical challenges. Others may not resort to these methods due to legal, personal or cultural reasons.

Cleveland Clinic reported that the first two international attempts to transplant a uterus in female recipients were unsuccessful. Organ rejection during pregnancy was critical. Subsequently, a team in Sweden found a way to manage possible mild organ rejection. Experts at the University of Gothenburg was successful in its first birth in September 2014. So far, the group has done nine uterus transplants, consisting of four live births and five pregnancies.

The findings showed that uterine transplantation was indeed an effective method of delivering healthy infants.