Four Uterus Transplant Procedure Successfully Performed by Surgeons at Dallas; First in the US

Medical professionals from Baylor University Medical center in Dallas have successfully transplanted uterus to four women sourced from a living donor, which is a first in the United States.

According to reports, the surgeries lasted from Sept. 14 to 22; however, only one patient seemed to have a convenient transplanted uterus because the other 3 had problems with proper blood circulation.

A number of other uterus transplant have been done on other countries such as Sweden, wherein a total of 9 women have been provided with uterus and 5 of which have had healthy babies carried on a donor uteruses, Time reported. The first baby carried and delivered from a donor uterus was in 2014 from a 36-year-old mother who accepted a donated uterus from a menopausal friend. Two Swedish surgeons who have participated in the surgery have also taken part in the surgery at Baylor.

The first attempt for a uterus transplant in the US was initialized last March but ended up in disappointment. According to Slate, the procedure was done at the Cleveland Clinic and the donated uterus is from a deceased donor. The doctors soon found out that the uterus has a severe fungal infection, thus, they were forced to remove it from the 26-year-old receiver.

The moment that the doctors decided to remove a transplanted uterus, they can't do the procedure for another time. Furthermore, if the patient failed two attempts at getting pregnant with the help of the transplanted uterus, surgeons are going to remove the uterus to reassure the health of the patient.

Lindsey McFarland had a similar condition with the Cleveland patient, thus, she becomes one of the recipients of the donated uterus. She has a Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome which is a rare case manifested through the absence of uterus at birth. Baylor donors are considered 'altruistic' donors, or those individuals who aren't related in any aspect to the recipient.

The medical institution plans to accomplish six more uterus transplant before the year ends.