First Baby Born in the U.S. After a Uterus Transplant

The first birth as a result of a womb transplant in the United States has occurred in Texas, it is a milestone for the US.

A woman gave birth via a donated uterus for the first time ever in the U.S. The birth took place at Baylor University Medical Centre — the first birth in the hospital's ongoing uterus transplant clinical trial.

The woman delivered the baby on Friday (1 December), about a year after receiving a womb from a 36-year-old mother-of-two, who lives near the hospital, Hospital spokesman Craig Civale said.

Uterus Transplantation / Womb Transplantation - Advantages and Disadvantages
Learn more about uterus or womb transplantation. Its indications, types, complications, advantages, disadvantages and scientific implications.

‘In a first case in America's medical history, a woman born without a uterus has given birth to a healthy baby after a womb transplant.’

Taylor Siler, 36, a registered nurse in the Dallas area, donated her uterus to the woman who recently gave birth. Siler wasn’t always certain she wanted to have children, but she says deciding to get pregnant was one of her best decisions. “Once they lay that baby in your arms,” Siler says. “Your life changes forever.”

Local media reported that the Dallas hospital, Baylor, has had a study underway for several years to enrol up to 10 women for uterus transplants. The only condition that women needed to have for this clinical trial is what's called an absolute uterine factor infertility (AUI), which means their uterus should be non-functioning or non-existent.

The first birth via transplanted uterus took place in 2014 in Sweden, where several more children have resulted from the procedure. “But this birth is what’s going to make the field grow, because this is the first time this has been replicated anywhere else. This step is equally, if not even more, important,” Dr. Liza Johannesson, an obstetrician-gynecologist who was part of the team in Sweden and now works at Baylor, said.

Eight Children Born Since Uterus Transplants First Began
From September 2014 to today, eight children in the world have been born to mothers who had fertilized eggs returned after undergoing a uterus transplant.

“We do transplants all day long,” says Dr. Giuliano Testa, the leader of the uterus transplant clinical trial at Baylor, and surgical chief of abdominal transplant for Baylor Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute. “This is not the same thing. I totally underestimated what this type of transplant does for these women. What I’ve learned emotionally, I do not have the words to describe.”

There have been at least 16 uterus transplants worldwide, including one in Cleveland from a deceased donor that had to be removed because of complications. Last month, Penn Medicine in Philadelphia announced that it also would start offering womb transplants.