Uterine transplantation could help thousands of women to have children

Finally possible: uterine transplantation could help thousands of women
For many couples, nothing is more important than finally having their own child together. But some women are denied the fulfillment of this desire because they were born without a womb. Meanwhile, transplants are possible.

If the desire for a child remains unfulfilled
Mating is often recommended as the strangest method when children are unfulfilled. Some people say that it helps to stretch their legs after sex. Dutch scientists, however, confessed that this does not increase the chance of having a child. Some women can be difficult or impossible to get pregnant anyway. For example, those who have no or too little uterus due to a genetic change from birth. However, a transplant could help them.

Tuebingen doctors recently performed the first uterine transplant in Germany. According to experts, such surgeries could help thousands of women with their desire to have children. (Image: Kadmy / fotolia.com)

First uterus transplant in Germany
Doctors at the University Hospital in Tübingen have recently carried out the first uterine transplantation in Germany with the support of Swedish experts. "The 23-year-old female patient with absolute uterine infertility due to a Mayer-Rokitanski-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome received the graft as a live donation. The operation lasting several hours was without complications, "it says in a statement from the hospital.

Woman with donor uterus gave birth to baby
The gynecologist Mats Brännström showed transplants in Sweden that such surgeries are possible and can lead to women fulfilling their desire to have children. In Gothenburg, a woman with donor uterus received a healthy baby in 2014. In the meantime, five children have been born this way.

Experts estimate the number of successful transplants around the world to be around 20, but the number of unreported cases is likely to be significantly higher.

The planning for the procedure in Tübingen ran according to clinic information for years. Also in other German hospitals, a uterus transplantation is to be performed, among other things by physicians of the University Hospital Erlangen.

Which women can be helped
Sara Brucker, Medical Director of the Research Institute for Women's Health at the University of Tübingen, explained that women with the Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome (MRKHS) are the largest group of potential patients.

The affected girls were therefore missing from birth on vagina and uterus. Ovaries, breasts, clitoris and labia, however, are normal. "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," writes the University Hospital Tübingen in the press release.

Up to 10,000 women could be helped
Bruckner also explained how many women are affected. According to that, about one in 5,000 female babies is born with MRKHS. In Germany alone, there are currently 6,000 to 8,000 people affected.

In addition, there would be women who want to have children, who are already mothers, but who had their womb removed at birth. And also patients who had their organs removed for cervical cancer. According to dpa, other experts estimate the total number of potential patients for uterine transplantation to be up to 10,000 women.

Transplantation of organs from living relatives most promising
According to experts, the transplantation of organs from living relatives - such as the womb of the mother or sister - is considered the most promising. In such cases, the interventions are also easier to plan than with organ donations of brain dead victims.

Also suitable for a transplant are organs of older persons. The British magazine "The Lancet" reported that the uterus in which the baby grew up in Sweden came from a 61-year-old friend of the family, who had already gone through the menopause seven years before the operation.

As Brucker explained, a uterus - unlike the ovaries - can rejuvenate. A condition for suitability was that the donor was pregnant at least once. (Ad)