France records first birth via uterus transplant

By Shweta Desai

PARIS (AA) - In the first-ever case of a successful uterus transplant in France, a woman gave birth to a healthy baby girl, the hospital treating the patient announced on Wednesday.

The team of Jean-Marc Ayoubi, head of the gynecology-obstetrics and medicine department of the reproduction at Foch Hospital in Paris, said that the infant weighing 1.8 kilogram (4 pound) was born on Feb. 12.

The 36-year-old woman underwent a uterus transplant last March from a living donor who was her mother.

The hospital said it was the first such transplant performed in France. The recipient had a rare genetic defect called Rokitansky syndrome or Mullerian agenesis, causing underdeveloped or absent uterus, cervix and upper vaginal canal, a condition affecting 1 in 4,500 women worldwide.

The delivery which took place without any noticeable complications after 33 weeks of pregnancy is feted as a scientific advancement offering immense hope for thousands of patients with uterine infertility caused by hysterectomy or a non-functioning uterus.

The research on transplant and reproduction in France involving 20 researchers that resulted in the successful delivery was in progress for more than 12 years. The Swedish team of Mats Brannstrom, professor of obstetrics gynecology at the University of Gothenburg and head of department at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, who is widely hailed as a pioneer in the field, also collaborated in the case.

Brannstrom’s team was behind the first birth following a uterus transplant in Sweden in 2014. In recent years, more than a dozen babies around the world were born following a successful uterus transplant involving living and deceased donors.