The first successful uterus transplant
The receiving uterus
Grigory Kolpakov, <url>The first case of pregnancy of a woman with a transplanted uterus in the history of medicine has been recorded.
Deriya Sert, who had a uterus successfully transplanted at the Akdeniz University Hospital in Antalya in August 2011, is safely carrying a fetus almost three weeks after the in vitro fertilization (IVF) operation performed there.
Deriya Sert was born 22 years ago without a uterus. This anomaly, which doctors have so far called the cause of absolute infertility, does not occur very often – with a chance of one in 5,000, but if we take into account the population of the planet, then the account is already for millions of sufferers. And the number of absolutely infertile women is actually significantly higher, because the uterus, even if it is, can be damaged during diseases, including cancer. The only way out for all of them is transplantation.
Experiments on uterus transplantation have been conducted for quite a long time in many laboratories around the world – from Japan and the UK to the USA and Saudi Arabia, however, mainly on animals – mice, rabbits, pigs, etc. These operations have more than once ended with the birth of a live cub. The first human transplant was performed in Saudi Arabia in 2000, but ended in failure – four months later, doctors were forced to remove the uterus due to the formation of blood clots in it. The reason for their appearance is considered poor blood supply to the uterus.
Insufficient blood supply is one of the two main obstacles to uterus transplantation. Its probability is especially increased if the organ is taken from a living donor, as in the case of a woman from Saudi Arabia. Another obstacle is the need for a woman to take strong immunosuppressants throughout her life. It becomes especially serious when a uterus is transplanted from a deceased donor, which happened in the case of Deria Sert.
The embryo at the earliest stage of development needs to be protected from the harmful effects of immunosuppressants, so the only way to conceive is IVF. For the same reason, the transplanted uterus remains "disposable" for now – if everything goes well and ends with a successful birth of a child, the uterus will be removed after a while.
Immunosuppressants can also complicate the passage of pregnancy, for example, lead to miscarriage or premature birth. They can also affect the health of the unborn child, so their intake should be limited to a minimum.
It is curious that a few months before the "Turkish" transplantation, the world press reported on the planned operations of this kind in Sweden to two patients at once. In both cases, the mothers of the girls were preparing to become donors. One couple remained anonymous, the other – 56-year-old Eva Ottosson and her daughter Sarah – became the subject of widespread discussion in the press.
Doctors consider the mother to be an ideal donor for her daughter. A solid age, in their opinion, is not a hindrance in this case. The uterus is an organ that can always be restored to functionality by simply injecting the female hormone estrogen. The structure of the DNA of the mother and daughter (so in the text – VM) coincides by 50 percent, which means that there is a high probability that they have the same location of blood vessels. Therefore, there is a chance to provide the transplanted uterus with sufficient blood circulation.
It was believed that these operations would be the first successful uterus transplants in the world. And the operation in Turkey, although it was not prepared in secret, was a surprise for everyone. In October 2011, both couples underwent surgery, but surgeons do not report the result of the operations – their main goal should be the safe birth of a child, and for this it is necessary to wait a year and a half, as the doctors from Antalya also waited. In other words, if everything goes well, then in two or three months we will hear news from Sweden. But this will not be the first successful transplant.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru15.04.2013