CLEVELAND, Ohio — For the first time in North America, and only the second time worldwide, a baby has been delivered from a uterus that was transplanted from a deceased donor, the Cleveland Clinic announced today.
The baby, a girl, was born via cesarean section in June at the Clinic. The mother, who is in her mid-30s, was born without a uterus, and received a transplanted uterus from a deceased donor in late 2017. In 2018, the mother became pregnant through in vitro fertilization. The Clinic did not release the mother’s name for privacy reasons.
The transplant and birth are part of an ongoing clinical trial — Uterine Transplantation for the Treatment of Uterine Factor Infertility — at the Clinic. The trial seeks to help women with uterine factor infertility. About 1 in 500 women of child bearing age are affected by this condition worldwide, the Clinic said.
Clinic transplant surgeon Dr. Cristiano Quintini is the trial’s lead investigator.
The baby was born via cesarean section because the organ transplant left a suture line in the vagina that might have caused problems during a vaginal birth, Falcone said.
This live birth proves that the uterus is still viable after death. “It proves the concept,” said Dr. Tommaso Falcone, Clinic professor of obstetrics and gynecology, who was part of the transplant team. “We have amazing insight into the function of the uterus.”
A research team — comprised of specialists in transplant surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, fertility, neonatology, bioethics, psychiatry, nursing, anesthesiology, infectious disease, interventional radiology, patient advocacy and social work — participated in the delivery.
“It was amazing how perfectly normal this delivery was, considering how extraordinary the occasion,” Cleveland Clinic transplant surgeon Dr. Andreas Tzakis said in a statement. "We are grateful to the donor and her family, their generosity allowed our patient’s dream to come true and a new baby to be born.”
Since the Cleveland Clinic began the clinical trial, the team has completed five uterus transplants. Three transplants were successful and two resulted in hysterectomies. Of the three successful transplants, one resulted in June’s live birth and two women are waiting for embryo implantation, Falcone said.
Uterine transplant recipients usually wait several months to be sure there is no risk of organ rejection, and that the organ is functioning properly, Falcone said.
The nation’s first uterus transplant, performed in 2016 at the Cleveland Clinic, failed due to a fungal infection that reduced the blood supply to the transplanted organ. The Clinic team learned from that transplant failure; the woman who gave birth in June received antibiotics in a different way, Falcone said.
For more information about Cleveland Clinic’s uterine transplant program, go to clevelandclinic.org/lp/uterus-transplant/index.html. Details of the clinical trial, Uterine Transplantation for the Treatment of Uterine Factor Infertility, can be found at ClinicalTrials.gov.
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