French doctors successfully carry out second uterus transplant

Doctors in France have succeeded in performing a uterus transplant for the second time. The first transplant was carried out in March 2019 on a patient who is now expecting her second child.

A pregnant woman poses on June 19, 2018 in Vertou, western France. (Illustration) LOIC VENANCE / AFP

"The transplant on this new 36-year-old patient was performed from the uterus of her older sister, with very minimally invasive surgery," Professor Jean-Marc Ayoubi, told French news agency AFP.

The head of the gynecology department at the Foch hospital in the western Paris suburb of Suresnes said this nearly 18-hour uterine transplant took place a month ago.

The patient who benefited from the transplant had Rokitansky syndrome (MRKH), responsible for infertility by uterine agenesis (she was born without a uterus), and which affects approximately one in 4,000 baby girl births.

The uterus is the organ of gestation: it is where the embryo develops. Without this organ, pregnancy is not possible.

In March 2019, Professor Ayoubi and his teams had already performed a first transplant on a woman, Déborah Berlioz, suffering from the same syndrome.

She received her mother's womb and later became pregnant through an embryo transfer.

"About 80 uterus transplants have so far been performed worldwide," says Professor Ayoubi. "You need a living donor, volunteer and related (either family or a close friend) and of course we do immunological compatibility tests," he adds.

Hope for patients

After the success of the first transplant, the Covid had slowed down its research project, started more than 15 years ago and the result of an international collaboration with the team of Professor Mats Branstrum, from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden).

For the teams at Foch Hospital, this new medical intervention brings hope to patients born without a uterus or presenting uterine infertility caused by a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) or a non-functional uterus.

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For her part, Déborah Berlioz, 37, is expecting a second child. After the birth, scheduled for next March, the transplanted uterus will be removed, which requires her to undergo anti-rejection treatment.

"The clinical trial in which I took part authorized a maximum of two pregnancies in five years," she told AFP. After a first "miracle" pregnancy, she is delighted to be expecting a second "bonus" baby: "Before the transplant, any hope of one day becoming pregnant was impossible for me".

(with newswires)