A woman had her own mother’s uterus transplanted in order to be able to give birth to a child, born on January 2 in Barcelona, following a normal pregnancy.
- In Spain, a woman with Rokitansky syndrome, characterized by the absence of a uterus, gave birth to her first child thanks to a transplant from her own mother’s uterus.
- Once the uterus was implanted, Mayra received six embryos through in vitro fertilization and became pregnant. The baby, a little boy named Manuel, was born in Barcelona on January 2, in good health.
- This is the first time in Spain that the donor is the baby’s grandmother. In France, the first transplant of its kind was carried out in 2019 in Hauts-de-Seine.
A true medical feat… and family feat. In Spain, a woman gave birth to her first child thanks to a transplant from her own mother’s uterus. The baby, a little boy named Manuel, was born in Barcelona on January 2, in good health. A situation “incredible, shocking and strange”in the words of the mother, reported by the Spanish media TV3 CAT in an article first spotted by the regional daily The Independent.
Rokitansky syndrome, or the absence of a uterus
Mayra, the mother, has Rokitansky syndrome or MRKH, a “congenital condition characterized by the absence of the uterus and at least the upper two-thirds of the vagina”, according to the High Health Authority (HAS). A malformation that affects 1 in 5,000 women. Knowing that she could not have children, Mayra turned to the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona which was organizing a program to deliver five babies from transplanted wombs. She then convinced her mother to donate her uterus.
During an operation lasting more than ten hours, a surgical robot extracted the uterus, then successfully transplanted it to the mother-to-be after four additional hours of intervention. Once the uterus was implanted, Mayra received six embryos through in vitro fertilization and became pregnant. The rest, a classic pregnancy – during which the mother regularly told her baby “I was in there too, everything will be fine”she tells TV3 CAT – and a planned cesarean delivery, without complications.
Three births thanks to uterus transplants in France
In Spain, this is the second time that a mother has given birth thanks to a uterus transplant. But according to the national media, this is the first time that the donor is the baby’s grandmother. In France, the first transplant of its kind was carried out in 2019 in Hauts-de-Seine: thanks to the donation of the uterus from her parent, the mother was able to give birth to a girl two years later.
Since then, two other French women, also born without a uterus, have been able to give birth to their child, thanks to a transplant of the uterus of their sisters. For this type of transplant, being from the same family increases the chances of accounting, and therefore non-rejection.
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