The world's first successful uterus transplant was performed in Turkey

"The uterus has already become a part of me and if God willing, I will hold my baby in my arms one day," Al Arabija reports the words of an enthusiastic patient
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womb, pregnant woman, pregnancy, Photo: Shutterstock.com
womb, pregnant woman, pregnancy, Photo: Shutterstock.com
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.
Ažurirano: 01.10.2011. 12:32h

Daria Sert, born without a uterus, became the first woman in the world to receive a uterus from a deceased donor. The operation was performed by the doctors of the Akdeniz University Hospital in southern Turkey at the beginning of August.

"The uterus has already become a part of me and if God willing, I will hold my baby in my arms one day," Al Arabija reports the words of the delighted patient.

The operation in Turkey is the third uterus transplant in the world, but only the first to be successful. The first attempt dates back to 1931, when a transplant was performed on a woman who was born a man in Denmark. The patient died three months after the operation, after her body rejected the organ. Another attempt at transplantation was carried out in Saudi Arabia in 2000. The patient received an organ from a living donor, but the uterus had to be removed 99 days later, due to severe clotting.

Despite the fact that their colleagues failed to do so earlier, Turkish doctors are convinced of the success of their attempt. Unlike the case in Saudi Arabia, they transplanted the patient's organ from a deceased donor, which, they say, makes a difference.

"Handicap is the transplantation of organs from a living donor," says microsurgeon Omer Ozkan, as one of the members of the team that performed the operation. His colleague Munir Erman Akar states that during an operation with a living donor organ, the vein is too short and the body of the patient receiving the organ transplant would have to reject the transplanted uterus.

The medical team states that they are able to overcome such problems by removing part of the tissue around the uterus. Doctors add that the success of the operation also contributes to the improvement of immunosuppressants, drugs that have been significantly improved in the last few years.

However, the Turkish team leaves room for possible failure.

"The operation was successful, but complete success will happen when Daria Sert has a baby".

There used to be a lot of belief in the potential of the uterus transplant procedure, but with the advent of in vitro fertilization in 1978, that idea was largely abandoned.

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