IVF THE NEXT STEP IN LIVE DONOR UTERUS TRANSPLANT PROJECT
In the spring of 2013,
a team of researchers and doctors at the University of Gothenburg performed the
last of nine planned uterus transplants. The six-month follow up shows that
live-donor uterus transplantation has a low risk despite extended surgery
duration. In the next phase of the world-unique research project researchers
will help seven of the women become pregnant through IVF treatment.
In Sweden alone, an estimated 2,000
young women of fertile age cannot become pregnant either because they were born
without a womb or lost it later due to disease.
Professor Mats Brännström,
researcher at the University of Gothenburg and chief physician, is leading a
unique research project aiming to make it possible for these women to have a
uterus transplant and then get pregnant.
A decade of research
After more than a decade of research
that has been evaluated in almost 40 scientific articles, in May 2012 the
research team received permission from the Regional Ethical Review Board in
Gothenburg to perform uterus transplants on ten Swedish women -- the first in
the world with living donors.
The first transplant was completed
15 September 2012, and the ninth and final in the spring of 2013. The tenth
woman involved in the project had to be denied at an early stage for medical
reasons. Five of the donors are mothers of the receivers; the remaining four a
close relative.
Scientific and medical importance In
two of the nine cases, the transplanted uterus had to be removed. In one cases
due to blood clots in the transplanted blood vessels, in the other because of a
local infection that was not fully treatable with antibiotics.
'In a scientific and medical perspective,
the transplants have been successful, especially in comparison with other types
of transplants that have been introduced and where far fewer initial operations
have been successful.'
'The women who had to have their
transplanted wombs removed were of course very disappointed, but both of them
have recovered well,' says Professor Brännström.
Next phase
The first transplant patients have
now had their new uterus for 16 months. During 2014 the second phase of the
research project will continue, and the seven transplant patients' own embryos
-- produced via IVF prior to the transplant -- will be placed in their uterus
with the aim of starting a pregnancy.
`We have made the first attempts at
this, but with respect to the women´s integrity we will not comment on the
results in the specific cases´, says Brännström.
'The prospects for success are good.
On average, the women started menstruating about two months after the
transplant, and we followed up on the women twice a week during the first month
after the procedure, then once a week for two months and after that every other
week. We found and treated a few mild cases of transplant rejection, but after
six months, the immunosuppression could be reduced to relatively low levels in
most cases and today all women are doing well and have returned to work,' says
Brännström.
International interest
The project is the world's first
systematic and research-based attempt to find a treatment for women with
uterine infertility. Several medical, psychological and quality of life-related
parameters are monitored among the women, which will be of great help for
further progress in the field.
A number of research groups around
the world are awaiting the results of the Gothenburg study in order to launch
similar observational studies.
The article The first
clinical uterus transplantation trial: a six-month report was
published in Fertility and Sterility on 28 February. In
summary, this study shows that a live-donor UTx procedure has a low risk
despite extended surgery duration.
Comments
Post a Comment