Results from an eight-year trial indicate uterus transplants are a safe and viable treatment for women with uterine factor infertility who wish to become pregnant.
Uterine factor infertility is a condition in which a person cannot become pregnant because they either do not have a uterus or their uterus does not function properly. From 2016 to 2019, a team at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas performed 20 uterus transplants. Fourteen patients who had a successful transplant gave birth at least once, according to the study, which was published Aug. 15 in JAMA. Of the 16 children born during the study period, none had congenital abnormalities or developmental delays.
However, complications were common among donors and recipients. Twenty-two percent of living donors required corrective surgery, and the majority of recipients experienced at least one complication, such as vaginal bleeding and preterm labor. No persistent effects were reported during the follow-up period, according to the study.
"We can now confidently say this procedure is not only safe for the donors, recipients and the children born via a transplanted uterus, but it is also a viable and successful treatment," Liza Johannesson, MD, study author and director of uterus transplant at the hospital, said in an Aug. 15 news release from Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health. "It gives hope to the countless number of women who previously had no other option for treating this form of infertility."
The full study can be found here.