Swedish doctors claim pioneering uterus transplant

STOCKHOLM: Two Swedish women are hoping to give birth using the wombs of their mothers after what doctors called the world's first mother-to-daughter uterus transplants.


"We are not going to call it a complete success until this results in children," Michael Olausson, one of the Swedish surgeons, told The Associated Press. "That's the best proof."

Researchers around the world have been looking for ways to transplant wombs so that women who lost their uterus to cancer or other diseases can become pregnant.



Olausson said there could be a lower risk of organ rejection in theory when the donor is a family member but he said a more important factor was the "emotional connection" between mother and daughter. Also, it makes it easier to "know that the transplanted organ works," he said, adding that it doesn't matter if the donor is past menopause.

The Swedish women, who were not identified, won't receive any fertility treatment for a year while doctors monitor how they respond to the anti-rejection drugs needed to stop their own immune systems from attacking the donated wombs, he said.

If they are considered to be stable after that, doctors will continue the in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, they started before the surgery. IVF uses eggs from the women's own ovaries to create embryos.

After a maximum of two pregnancies, the wombs will be removed again so the women can stop taking anti-rejection drugs, Olausson said. Such drugs can have side effects such as high blood pressure, swelling, diabetes and may also raise the risk of some cancers.

Fertility experts hailed the Swedish transplants as a significant step, but stressed it remains to be seen whether they will result in successful pregnancies.

"There's no doubt this will be a pioneering step if it's been successful," said Scott Nelson, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, who was not involved with the transplants. "At present, the only option for these women is to have a surrogacy, i.e. having their embryos implanted into another woman."

Nelson said that in terms of risks to the pregnancy, the greatest concerns are the placenta not developing normally, the baby not growing properly or being born prematurely.

"Pre-term birth is a major risk, i.e. a small baby being born, that's what you'd mainly be worried about," he said.

Nelson also said the chances of pregnancy may be lower than normal with a donated womb because it would not contain all the blood vessels it originally had, possibly compromising a baby's development.

James Grifo, an infertility expert at New York University, questioned how the fetus would be affected by the immune-suppressing drugs that prevent organ rejection.


"The group of patients that would need this is so small we decided to focus our efforts elsewhere," he said. "We started in rats but once we got to humans, it became very clear the rejection drug was going to be the issue and we didn't know how to safely deal with that issue."

In Sweden, Olausson said anti-rejection drugs have not proved harmful to fetuses when the mother has undergone other organ transplants. Also, tests on mice, rats and pigs with transplanted wombs didn't show any adverse effects of such drugs, he said.

The University of Goteborg said one of the Swedish recipients had her uterus removed many years ago due to cervical cancer and the other was born without a uterus. Both women are in their 30s.






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