First Baby Born From a Uterus Transplant in the US Is Successfully Delivered in Texas Hospital

A major development was recently made in the fields of fertility, obstetrics, and gynecology: the first baby born to a woman who had a uterus transplant in the US was successfully delivered. And that's huge news for women who are unable to naturally carry children. The mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, was born without a uterus and underwent the transplant from a living donor last year at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX. Last month, her baby boy was delivered in the same hospital.

"This first live birth to a uterus transplant recipient in the United States was a milestone in our work to solve absolute uterine factor infertility; but, more importantly a beautiful moment of love and hope for a mother who had been told she would never be able to carry her own child," said Giuliano Testa, MD, principal investigator of the uterine transplant clinical trial at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. The new mother received a uterus transplant as part of a "landmark clinical trial conducted over the past year and a half."

The fact that the labor and delivery were successful is a huge step in helping women who were either born without a uterus or needed to have it removed due to cancer or other illnesses. However, uterus transplants aren't actually designed to be permanent organ donations. "Because carrying foreign body tissue can increase infection risk and requires lifelong antirejection medication, women in this study will undergo a hysterectomy after one or two successful pregnancies," reads a Baylor Scott & White Health publication outlining the clinical trial.

Although this is the very fist baby to be born in the US using this method, eight other women have delivered babies via uterus transplants at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden.

Researchers at Baylor University Medical Center are pleased with the results and are hoping to help other aspiring moms in the future. Doug Lawson, PhD, president of Baylor University Medical Center, said, "This baby, born to a mother who could not otherwise have carried her own child, represents the ultimate success of this program, and we are honored to have been part of this milestone for her."