The woman’s donor, who was her mother, had her uterus removed using a robot. The recipient gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
A healthy baby boy has been welcomed into the world — the first child born following a robot-assisted uterus transplant.
The baby's mom, who is not identified, received the uterus from her own mother in a 2017 surgery. The donor had 1 cm incisiona on her abdomen, and doctors guided robot arms on each side of her to cut out the uterus. A larger incision was then made to remove the uterus from the donor's body. The uterus was then immediately placed into the recipient in an open surgery.
Doctors are hoping this technique can make the process less invasive for donors.
“We want to make this procedure as risk-free as possible for donors,” Dr. Liza Johannesson, a gynecologic oncology surgeon at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, told InsideEdition.com. She helped pioneer the first human clinical trial of uterus transplantation in Sweden in 2012.
The recipient, who lives in Sweden, underwent in vitro fertilization treatments before receiving her mother's uterus. Ten months after the surgery, an embryo was implanted. And in just a few weeks, doctors were able to confirm her pregnancy with the baby's heartbeat.
"It’s a fantastic feeling to deliver such a special, longed-for child," said Dr. Pernilla Dahm-Kähler, who was part of the transplant surgery.
Worldwide, 15 babies have been born after uterus transplants but this is the first following a robot-assisted uterus transplant.
"Once a woman receives a uterus and gets pregnant, she usually decides if she wants to have another child before the uterus is removed," Johannesson said.
Johannesson added that doctors have completed a robotic surgery on a uterus donor in Dallas, but the recipient is not pregnant yet, which is what determines if the surgery was successful.
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