This womb transplant breakthrough could open up pregnancy to all sexes | Philip Ball
by Philip Ball from on (#44DT1)
The live birth of a baby girl in Sio Paulo is a medical advance that may change the definition of motherhood
A year ago, a baby girl was born by caesarean section in a hospital in Sio Paulo, Brazil, after being conceived by IVF. What made the birth unique was that the child had been gestated in a womb transplanted from a 45-year-old woman who had died.
Births resulting from uterus transplants have been happening since 2014, but for all previous children conceived this way, the donor was alive. That, understandably, places severe limits on the availability of the organs. This demonstration, reported in the Lancet - that a uterus can be successfully preserved and transplanted from a deceased person - could relax the supply bottleneck for women otherwise unable to conceive because of uterine problems.
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