News
Baby born after uterus transplant: A world first!
Oct 01, 2014
John Flynn Private Hospital congratulates Dr Ash Hanafy on his recent success in Sweden with the world’s first baby born after a uterus transplant. In September 2014, a 36 year-old woman who received a uterus transplant from a live donor in 2013, gave birth to a healthy baby boy in Sweden. To mark their baby's birth as a victory over their difficult journey to parenthood, they named him Vincent, meaning "to conquer".
Dr Ash Hanafy, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist at John Flynn Private Hospital, and Dr Mats Brannstrom, Swedish-based Professor of Gynaecology & Obstetrics, have been researching uterine transplantation for over ten years and performed the world’s first uterus transplant in Sweden in 2012. Uterus transplantation is used to treat women who have either no uterus or a non-functional uterus. It has been attempted 11 times worldwide, but until now no live births have resulted from the procedure. The 36 year-old patient was born with congenital absence of the uterus, known as Rokitansky syndrome. She underwent a uterus transplant from a postmenopausal woman aged 61 years, who had previously born two children. "Our success is based on more than 10 years of intensive animal research and surgical training by our team and opens up the possibility of treating many young females worldwide that suffer from uterine infertility. What is more, we have demonstrated the feasibility of live-donor uterus transplantation, even from a postmenopausal donor," Dr. Brännström said in a news release.