It's sometimes called "the miracle of birth," but this woman's birth really was a medical miracle. Last month, a 36-year-old woman successfully gave birth in Sweden, following a womb transplant she received the previous year. The woman's doctor publicly announced the amazing birth on Oct. 3. This is the first time a womb transplant has ever resulted in a live birth.
The woman, who was born without a uterus but had functional ovaries, received the uterus from a close friend of hers, who was 61. She was participating in a study conducted by Dr. Mats Brannstrom, in which nine women had womb transplants. Dr. Brannstrom is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Gothenburg and Stockholm IVF.
So far, two women have had the transplanted uteruses removed because of complications. The other seven women had embryos implanted in their uteruses earlier this year. The first had already given birth to a healthy son, although her pregnancy ended prematurely. Two more women in the study are also pregnant, and at least 25 weeks along.
There are significant medical risks with any organ transplant. Having an organ transplant means living with immuno-suppressing drugs for the rest of your life. The parents of the new child say they are happy with their decision, though.
"It was a pretty tough journey over the years, but we now have the most amazing baby. He is very, very cute, and he doesn't even scream; he just murmurs," the father of the child said.
Dr. Brannstrom said that the new mother was happy with her child.
"The baby is fantastic. But it is even better to see the joy in the parents and how happy he made them," Dr. Brannstrom said.
Two womb transplants have been attempted before, once in Saudi Arabia and once in Turkey, but neither of these attempts produced the birth of a living child.
With one successful attempt, doctors in other countries will likely experiment more with uterus transplants, probably using organs from women who are already dead instead of using living donors like the one from the study in Sweden. This could be a great chance for women with uterine cancer, or women who were born without wombs, to have a chance at having their own child.
