History has been made in China as the county successfully carried out its first womb transplant.
Doctors during the surgery
The womb transplant surgery was carried out on a 22-year-old woman with a uterus donated by her mother.
According to South China Morning Post, the woman, who was born without a vagina and uterus, has functioning ovaries and can produce eggs to produce a baby.
Also, the Huashang Daily reported that Doctors at Xijing Hospital in Xian in Shaanxi province prepared for the surgery for two years and practised the procedure on goats as they have a similar womb anatomy to humans.
The woman’s 43-year-old mother said she was “willing to give up her life to give my daughter a complete life”.
It was revealed that the daughter, whose real name was not given in the report, got married before the transplant. She underwent surgery to form a vagina in April and August and had four fertilised embryos frozen for future implantation, the report said.
The transplant surgery, which involved 38 doctors with 11 areas of expertise, was conducted over 14 hours with the help of robotic surgical tools.
The mother only lost 10 millilitres of blood during the procedure, according to the article, and she is making a good recovery.
The daughter is in a stable condition and is recovering in a sterilised room to prevent infection. However, she will need to stay in hospital for some weeks.
The four frozen fertilised embryos will be implanted in the daughter’s womb after she has fully recovered, possibly next year.
Chen Biliang, the head of the gynaecology and obstetrics department at Xijing Hospital, was quoted as saying that the mother was still young and her uterus was functioning well, raising the chances of a successful pregnancy and delivery.
Chen said the uterus would be removed after the daughter giving birth to save her from taking immunodepressants for life, drugs that help stop the body rejecting implanted organs