CLEVELAND — Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic delivered a baby from a uterus that was transplanted from a deceased donor for the first time in North America and the second time worldwide, according to a release from the clinic.
In June, a research team made up of specialists in gynecology, obstetrics, fertility, infectious disease, social and other specialties, delivered a baby girl via cesarean section.
The uterus came from a deceased donor and was transplanted in late 2017. In late 2018, a woman in her mid-30s became pregnant through in vitro fertilization.
The transplant and birth are part of an on-going clinical trial, Uterine Transplant for the Treatment of Uterine Factor Infertility, at the Cleveland Clinic.
The trial is an avenue of hope for woman worldwide who are unable to have a baby due to uterine factor infertility.
“It was amazing how perfectly normal this delivery was, considering how extraordinary the occasion,” said Cleveland Clinic transplant surgeon Andreas Tzakis, M.D., Ph. D in a news release. “Through this research, we aim to make these extraordinary events, ordinary for the women who choose this option. We are grateful to the donor and her family, their generosity allowed our patient’s dream to come true and a new baby to be born.”
Since the Cleveland Clinic started the trial, the team completed five transplants, three of which were successful and two that resulted in hysterectomies.
The clinic hopes to enroll ten women between the ages of 21 and 39 years old. The Cleveland's Clinic's protocol calls for the transplanted uterus to come from a deceased donor in order to eliminate risk to healthy, living donor, the release states.
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