FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, BABY BORN OUT OF WOMB DONATED BY DEAD PERSON

In a case that can revolutionise the medical profession across the globe, a woman in Brazil gave birth to a baby with the help of the womb of a deceased donor, transplanted into her. This is the first successful case of its kind.

The case, published in The Lancet medical journal, involved connecting veins from the donor uterus with the recipient’s veins, as well as linking arteries, ligaments and vaginal canals.

The incident comes after 10 previously known cases of uterus transplants from deceased donors - in the United States, the Czech Republic and Turkey - failed to produce a live birth. The girl born in the Brazilian case was delivered via Cesarean delivery at 35 weeks and three days, and weighed 2,550 grams (nearly 6 lbs), the case study said.

Dani Ejzenberg, one of the doctors at Brazil’s Sao Paulo University hospital who led the research, said the transplant - carried out in September 2016 when the recipient was 32 - shows the technique is feasible and could offer women with uterine infertility access to a larger pool of potential donors.

As per the current norm, a womb transplant is done if a family member is willing to donate the organ.

“The numbers of people willing and committed to donate organs upon their own deaths are far larger than those of live donors, offering a much wider potential donor population,” Ejzenberg said. She added, however, that the outcomes and effects of womb donations from live and deceased donors have yet to be compared, and said the technique could still be refined and optimised.

In the Brazilian case, the recipient had been born without a uterus due to a condition. The donor was 45 years old and died of stroke.

Five months after the transplant, Ejzenberg’s team wrote, the uterus showed no signs of rejection, ultrasound scans were normal, and the recipient was having regular menstruation. The woman’s previously fertilised and frozen eggs were implanted after seven months and 10 days later she was confirmed pregnant.

*With inputs from Reuters*