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First uterine transplant performed
With the support of Swedish experts, doctors in Tübingen have carried out the first uterine transplantation in Germany. The operation of the young patient, who was infertile due to a congenital malformation, was successful. Two years ago, a woman with a transplanted uterus first delivered a healthy baby around the world.
First uterus transplant in Germany
Transplantation medicine has made tremendous progress over the past decade. For example, successful face transplants have been performed over and over again for years, and it was only last year that doctors were able to achieve the sensational transplantation of a skullcap. However, more common are transplants of organs. Doctors in Tübingen have now carried out the first uterine transplant in Germany.
Doctors in Tübingen have performed a uterine transplant in Germany for the first time. In Sweden, a woman with a transplanted uterus gave birth two years ago. (Image: satyrenko / fotolia.com) Operation was without complications
As reported by the University Hospital Tübingen, doctors have succeeded for the first time in Germany, the transplantation of a uterus. According to the information, the several-hour operation of the 23-year-old patient was without complications. According to the clinic, the young woman had been infertile because of a congenital malformation, the so-called Mayer-Rokitanski-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, and had received the uterus as a living donation.
Affected women had little chance of getting children
According to the announcement, "absolute uterine infertility" affects three to five percent of all women and "until recently has been a virtually incurable cause of female infertility". It also states: "The only options for these women to become mothers or even to have genetically own children were adoption or surrogacy, which in turn is not allowed in Germany."
Woman with donor uterus gave birth to baby
In recent years, uterine transplants have been performed in various countries to help women fulfill their childhood needs. In the UK, the first uterine transplant is planned. The gynecologist Prof. Mats Mats Brännström showed transplants in Sweden that the surgery is feasible and promising. There a woman in Gothenburg with donor uterus got a healthy baby in 2014. In the meantime, five children have been born this way.
Planning also in other clinics
Prof. Brännström and Kollgen were also involved in the procedure in Tübingen with the uterine transplantation team of the University Hospital Gothenburg. The plans for it ran according to own data for years. Also in other German hospitals, a uterus transplantation is to be performed, among other things by physicians of the University Hospital Erlangen.
Controllable risk
The Director of the Gynecological Clinic of the University Hospital Erlangen, Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Beckmann said in a statement in the summer: "We are currently preparing for the first uterine transplantation. But first we have to get the necessary permits from the Bavarian Ministry of Health and train the intervention on the animal model. "At that time he said that he was convinced that the risk is manageable and worthwhile. The success in Tübingen confirms him now.
Living relatives are preferred donors
According to experts, such an operation may involve women whose uterus is too small or was missing or needing to be removed from birth. According to experts, living relatives such as mother or sister are the preferred donors. The interventions can then be planned better. The German Society for Reproductive Medicine initially refused the uterus transplant, but after the successes in Sweden, the skepticism was then discarded. (Ad)