Imagine that you were a woman who had to have her uterus removed because of cancer or other complications. As a result you know that you will never be able to have children. You will never experience the joy and trial of pregnancy and the ensuing birth. Yet now doctors at a New York hospital are saying that they will begin offering uterus transplants. This will allow women who would previously been unable to have children to bear their own child.
The uterus will be donated just like any other organ. When families donate their loved ones remains they will be asked if the uterus can be used as well. Although some are expressing concerns about the ethics of donating a uterus versus a kidney I know that if I died I wouldn’t mind if my uterus went to help some women who was unable to have children.
One of the biggest differences between a uterus transplant and other organ transplants is the continual use of anti-rejection drugs. Women who receive a uterus transplant will have the uterus removed after having a baby or after a few years if pregnancy does not occur. This means that their use of the drugs will only last a short time.
Some have expressed concerns about the effect of anti-rejection drugs on a developing fetus. But there have been many women who have successfully had babies while using anti-rejection drugs. Although doctors point out that they do have to be careful which drugs are used.
Possible candidates will be heavily screened and the cost of course will not be cheap running about $500,000. All candidates will have to have frozen embryos to ensure that there is no risk of infertility. They will also have to be careful during their pregnancy. The baby will be delivered by c-section to prevent any complications.
There has been one unsuccessful attempt at a uterus transplant in Saudi Arabia and doctors are studying the procedure to better learn how to perform the operation. Doctors are hopeful that this surgery will be successful in the future. For women who for medical reasons cannot have children this surgery may be a dream come true.
See these related blogs:
Understanding the Language of Infertility
What is In Vitro Fertilization?
Dealing with Unexplained Infertility