The University of Alabama at Birmingham and UAB Medicine are opening a uterus transplant program to help women with fertility issues, the organizations said Oct 19. The initiative marks the first such program in the Southeast region and only the fourth in the U.S.
The program will use uterus transplantation as a treatment for patients with uterine factor infertility, a condition in which women cannot get pregnant because they don't have a uterus or it is not functioning properly.
The process entails a woman undergoing a uterus transplant from a deceased donor. Clinicians then insert her embryos created via in vitro fertilization into the uterus. If the implantation is successful, the women will become pregnant and undergo a planned Cesarean section to deliver the baby. The uterus is removed once the baby is delivered.
Paige Porrett, MD, PhD, associate professor of surgery at the UAB transplant division and Comprehensive Transplant Institute, will oversee the program.
Learn more about the uterus transplant program here.
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