The first robot-assisted uterus transplant was successfully completed at the Xijing Hospital in Xian, China. This procedure was done between a 43-year old mother and her 22-year old daughter. Although daughter Yang Hua has ovaries, she was born with no uterus. The surgery was completed without any complication and both mother and daughter are recovering well from the 14-hour procedure.
What's next for Yang Hua is to attempt to have a baby. Before any surgery, Yang Hua had never experienced menstruation throughout her life and never thought she would ever have the chance to have her own family. With this gift from her own mother, Yang Hua can finally live her hope of becoming a mother, too.
The doctors harvested Yang Hua's eggs before her uterus transplant. These eggs were fertilised, with Yang Hua's husband's sperm, and frozen as embryos. Come next year, one of these embryos will be implanted in Yang Hua's new womb. If the implantation takes, Yang Hua will carry the pregnancy to full term and give birth through Ceasarian section.
In the meantime, Yang Hua will take a course of immunosuppressant drugs to protect the new womb from being rejected by her body. She will keep at this course even throughout her pregnancy and will be under close observation for any sign of rejection. As of writing, all vital signs point to a good recovery.
Yang Hua's womb will eventually be removed after Yang Hua has given birth to one or two babies.
Her success story brings hope to many other women in China, who - for one reason or other - are infertile and unable to conceive by traditional method. As many as 100,000 to 120,000 girls are annually born in China without a functioning uterus. The transplant's success, although has much risk attached to it, may well change the lives of these girls later on.
Similar transplants have been performed in other countries, the first being in Saudi Arabia. The first successful transplant was perform in Turkey in 2011. Sweden, by far, has had nine successful uterus transplants. Recently, Cleveland Clinic, a leading US hospital announced that preparations are underway and this medical procedure will be offered soon.
