Medical professionals in Britain are celebrating a remarkable achievement with the first birth of a child in the country to a woman who underwent a uterine transplant.
Grace Davidson, a 36-year-old woman, was diagnosed in her teens with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, a rare condition affecting about one in 5,000 women.
Women with this syndrome often lack a uterus or have one that hasn’t developed correctly; however, their ovaries remain functional and produce hormones, allowing for the possibility of conception through artificial insemination.
Davidson delivered a healthy baby girl weighing two kilograms via caesarean section on February 27 at a hospital in London.
Prior to the surgery, she took steps to freeze her eggs in 2023.
Alongside her 37-year-old husband, Angus, Davidson expressed that they received “the greatest gift we could ever ask for.”
They named their daughter Amy Isabel, honoring Davidson’s sister who donated her uterus after having two children, during an eight-hour surgical procedure, as well as Isabel Kiroga, the surgeon instrumental in refining the transplant technique.
The Guardian reported this advancement as a newfound hope for women born without a uterus or those with significant uterine issues.
There have been three additional uterus transplants performed in Britain using cadaveric donors.
Approximately 10 women are currently undergoing the approval process for a £25,000 uterus transplant, with hundreds more expressing interest in the program funded by Womb Transplant UK.
This charity is authorized to conduct 10 transplants from deceased donors and five from living donors, with hopes that the UK NHS will provide funding in the future.
Globally, 100 uterus transplants have been completed, resulting in 50 births, the oldest of which, an 11-year-old boy from Sweden, is now on record.
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