History was made in China on November 20, as the county's first womb
transplant was carried out successfully on a
22-year-old woman with a uterus donated by her mother. According to a
statement by the Xijing Hospital which is affiliated to the
Fourth Military Medical University, the transplanted organ
had been accepted by the recipient and she was recovering well after the
successful surgery.
The recipient, Yang Hua, from northwest
China's Shaanxi Province, never experienced menstruation like other
girls. In 2013, a diagnosis...an ultrasonic image showed that she was
congenitally absent
of uterus and vagina.
Doctors offered Yang, who wanted to
have her own
baby, the only feasible solution...a womb transplant, a difficult
medical challenge worldwide. Chen Biliang, director of the hospital's
obstetrics and gynecology department said that the complex of blood
vessels
are difficult to connect, and there is a high risk of rejection.
However, the surgery was granted ethical approval
by the hospital’s ethics committee, noting that the donor and recipient
are mother and daughter, thereby no legal conflicts over the offspring
would ensue.
Before the transplant, Yang firstly underwent two
colpoplasties earlier this year. The doctors also created and froze
embryos using eggs from Yang’s own functioning ovary and sperm from her
partner, so that healthy embryos could be transferred into the new womb,
allowing Yang to carry her own biological child.
On November 20,
38 surgeons jointly performed the operation on Yang and her mother. A
robot assisted in removing the mother’s uterus before transplanting it
into the daughter’s body. The whole process took 14 hours.
Chen
said the successful practice offered hope to those suffering infertility
problems because they are born without a womb or forced to remove it
due to cancer or other diseases. It could also in theory open the
door for men who want to bear children of their own.
"It could be
possible to transfer a womb into a man's body after surgery and drug
therapy," Chen said.
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