Uterus transplant helps realize the dream of pregnancy

Mother's love is great, especially today is Thanksgiving. The editor saw a touching news that a 43-year-old mother transplanted her uterus to her 22-year-old daughter to fulfill her dream of becoming a mother. So what is the procedure for uterine transplantation? Will the uterus accompany the daughter for life? Is the child considered the mother's or the daughter's? 4 Can a uterus be transplanted between mother and daughter? The following is a detailed introduction for you.

Uterine transplant process

1. The person who intends to donate the uterus takes the initiative to donate and undergoes a 6-month matching test at the organ donation center in advance to ensure genetic matching;

2. Perform uterine transplantation in a timely manner, because the removed uterus can only survive for 12 hours;

3. After the transplant surgery and before pregnancy, the recipient needs to take anti-rejection drugs for 3 months;

4. After confirming that the newly transplanted uterus is functioning normally, the doctor will transplant the previously frozen embryos into the new uterus;

5. When the child is mature, he will be born by caesarean section;

6 After the birth of the child or 2 to 3 years after the uterus transplant, if there is no need to have children, the newly transplanted uterus will be removed to completely eliminate the rejection reaction.

Will the uterus accompany my daughter throughout her life?

Although the uterus has survived and passed the most difficult stage, the ultimate goal of the operation is to give birth to a child. It is difficult to estimate whether this goal can be achieved. Uterine transplantation is not only difficult, but as a reproductive organ, its rejection reaction is greater than other organs. It is difficult to prevent infection in the later stage. The uterus may be infected and necrotic before being removed. Immunosuppressants may also harm the health of the child. In addition, according to current data, the chance of successful delivery after surgery is less than one in ten. In this operation, the mother is still very young and her uterus function is relatively good, so there is hope. If everything goes well, it is hoped that an embryo transplant can be performed in 2016 to achieve delivery.

After a successful delivery, the patient's uterus will be removed again because the uterus has completed its historical mission. Otherwise, the patient will have to take medication for life to fight against rejection reactions.

Is the child considered the mother's or the daughter's?

In order to perform this operation, the hospital ethics committee needed approval. Experts said that because of the constant debate, four or five meetings were held. People mentioned issues such as who does the child belong to if it is conceived in the mother's uterus? If the child can survive without a uterus, is it necessary to undergo surgery? But in the end, the approval was passed. Experts said that in fact, in this operation, the daughter only borrowed the mother's uterus, just an organ. The child was of course developed from the embryo of the daughter and her husband, and of course belonged to them.

Can a uterus transplant be performed between mother and daughter?

According to experts, in medicine, uterine infertility is generally referred to as uterine infertility due to uterine hypoplasia or uterine fibroids. Although there are no exact statistics in my country, it is estimated that about 100,000 to 120,000 newborns in my country each year suffer from congenital absence of vagina and uterus.

Like other organ transplants, not all mothers can transplant their uterus to their daughters. Strict matching must be done before the operation. There have been cases where the transplant was abandoned due to unsuccessful matching, but the matching success rate is relatively high between mothers and daughters, and sisters.