Uterus Transplant Enables Women to Gestate, Deliver Liveborn Infants

FRIDAY, July 7, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Initial outcomes of the first five years of uterine transplants in the United States suggest that it may be a viable treatment option for women with uterine-factor infertility, according to a study published online July 6 in JAMA Surgery.

Liza Johannesson, M.D., Ph.D., from Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues reviewed transplant and birth outcomes among 33 uterus transplant recipients who underwent transplant between February 2016 and September 2021. Five years of outcome data were collected from the three centers performing uterus transplants in the United States. Of the recipients, 94 percent had a congenitally absent uterus and 64 percent received organs from living donors.

Recipients were followed for a mean of 36 months, during which time, there was no donor or recipient mortality. The researchers found that one-year graft survival was 74 percent (23 of 31 recipients). Fifty-eight percent of the recipients (19 recipients) had delivered 21 liveborn children through October 2021. The proportion with a liveborn child was 83 percent among recipients with a viable graft at one year (19 of 23). The median gestational age at birth was 36 weeks, 6 days, and median birth weight was 2,860 g. There were no congenital malformations reported.

"Our data serve as a guide for health care professionals caring for patients affected by absolute uterine-factor infertility, institutions seeking to expand treatment options for patients, and patients interested in pursuing uterus transplant at a recognized center," the authors write.

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