Latest news with #Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hausersyndrome
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Baby Born to Woman With Transplanted Womb
In Scotland, a woman successfully gave birth to a baby girl after getting a womb transplant from her sister. As the BBC reports, couple Grace and Angus Davidsin welcomed baby Amy after the mother's sister, for whom she named her new child, donated her womb. Though it wasn't the first in the world — that took place over a decade ago in Sweden — the birth of baby Amy was the first time in the history of the United Kingdom in which such a feat has been achieved. During the ensuing ten years, doctors have successfully carried out 135 uterine transplants, and 65 babies have been born from the difficult procedures. Born with a rare genetic disorder called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, in which people are born either with non-functioning wombs or without them entirely, 36-year-old Davidson — along with her sister, Amy Purdie — had been trying to assess whether the feat was feasible for years. Though the initial transplantation was set to take place in late 2019, the surgery was delayed — and once the COVID-19 pandemic began, it became unclear, the BBC notes, if it would happen at all. Finally, the complex transplant process — which involved more than 30 doctors and took 17 hours as they removed Purdie's uterus and implanted it inside Ferguson — took place in February 2023. Though it was technically a hysterectomy, or uterine removal, Purdie told the BBC she didn't feel the same sense of loss some women feel upon getting that procedure. Despite the risks involved for both sisters, transplant surgeon Isabel Quiroga of Oxford's Churchill Hospital said the procedure she led was both "life-enhancing and life-creating — and you can't have better than that." Just a few weeks after the successful transplant, Davidson had her very first menstrual period. It wasn't much longer until she and her husband Angus attempted in-vitro fertilization, and got pregnant on their very first try. On February 27, 2025 — almost exactly two years to the day since her transplant — Davidson gave birth to baby Amy. "I'm not often short of words, but when the baby came out, I was speechless," enthused Richard Smith, an Imperial College London gynecological surgeon who worked on Davidson and Purdie's transplant, in an interview with the BBC. "There were a lot of tears in the theatre that day. The whole thing is astonishing and incredibly moving." The Davidsons are, as they told the British broadcaster, already considering a second child as soon as Grace's medical team gives them the go-ahead. If she does have that second baby, however, it will have to be the last to whom Davidson gives birth. As Quiroga explained to the BBC, the donated womb will need to be removed after Davidson has a second child because the daily immunosuppressants she takes to make sure her body doesn't reject the foreign uterus carry the risk of developing cancer when taken for years at a time. Still, it's clear that this transplant and its "little miracle," as the Davidsons call their new baby, has had a profound impact on the couple. The first time they got to hold baby Amy, as the mother put it, it was "quite overwhelming." "We'd never really let ourselves imagine what it would be like for her to be here," she said. "It was really wonderful." More on babies: Scientist Who Gene-Hacked Human Babies Says Ethics Are "Holding Back" Scientific Progress
Forbes
08-04-2025
- Health
- Forbes
U.K. Woman Gives Birth To Healthy Baby After Receiving Womb Transplant
A baby has been born in the UK to the recipient of a transplanted womb. A woman in the U.K. has become the first in the country to give birth after receiving a womb transplant from her sister. Grace Davidson, 36 gave birth on February 27th to a healthy baby girl via caesarean section at hospital in the U.K. At 19, Davidson was diagnosed with a rare condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, meaning her womb was either missing or not developed properly. The condition affects around 1 in every 4,500 females and often people don't find out they are affected until their teenage years. External features and genitals are often normal in affected individuals and often people are only diagnosed when they fail to menstruate after puberty. In early 2023, Davidson received her sister's womb via a transplant that was documented as successful in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In Davidson's case, her ovaries were producing eggs despite the lack of functional womb, so prior to the transplant, Davidson and her husband had in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment to create embryos which were frozen, so they could be implanted after the transplant. 'Transplants are usually carried out in order to save a life. With this transplant we have been able to enhance a life, and now to create a life,' said Isabel Quiroga, who co-leads the UK living donor programme for wombs and is a consultant transplant and endocrine surgeon. 'This is a procedure that will give hope to many women without a functioning womb who thought they might not be able to get pregnant,' said Quiroga in a press release, who helped pioneer the transplant procedure and was in the operating theatre when Davidson delivered the baby. Davidson's sister Amy already had two children before donating her womb and the new baby is named Amy Isabel after both her and Quiroga. 'What a privilege it is to be able to gift something that in many ways I took for granted,' said Amy. "Watching Grace and Angus become parents has been an absolute joy and worth every moment. I feel eternally grateful to be part of their journey." The first baby to ever be born from a transplanted womb was in Sweden in 2014, with the boy now being 10 years old. The first U.S. trial for womb transplants in people without viable wombs, either due to a condition like Davidson's or due to removal e.g. because of cancer, was started in 2017 at UPenn Medicine, with the first baby born to a woman with a transplanted uterus in 2019. There have been an estimated 120 babies born worldwide to mothers with transplanted wombs.
Saudi Gazette
08-04-2025
- Health
- Saudi Gazette
Woman becomes first in UK to give birth after womb transplant
LONDON — In a medical milestone, 36-year-old Grace Davidson has become the first woman in the UK to give birth after receiving a womb transplant — a groundbreaking achievement hailed by surgeons as 'astonishing.' Davidson, who was born without a uterus due to a rare condition known as Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, delivered her daughter, Amy Isabel, via planned caesarean section on February 27 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London. The transplant was made possible after her sister, Amy Purdie, donated her womb in 2023 during an eight-hour operation. 'It was just hard to believe she was real,' Davidson said, describing the moment she held her daughter for the first time. 'I knew she was ours, but it's just hard to believe.' The couple had previously undergone IVF treatment, creating and freezing embryos ahead of the transplant. Several months after the procedure, one of the embryos was successfully implanted. The baby's name honors both the donor and one of the lead surgeons — Purdie and Isabel Quiroga of the Oxford Transplant Centre — who helped perfect the complex technique. The success of Davidson's pregnancy marks a major leap forward in fertility treatment for women born without a uterus or who lose it due to illness or injury. Three other womb transplants have been performed in the UK using deceased donors, and more are planned. Around 10 women are currently undergoing approval for a womb transplant, while hundreds more have expressed interest in the £25,000 procedure, which is currently funded by the charity Womb Transplant UK. Prof. Richard Smith, the charity's clinical lead who has spearheaded 25 years of research into womb transplantation, said witnessing the birth of Amy Isabel was a deeply emotional moment. 'We finally have a baby — little Amy Isabel. Astonishing, really astonishing.' Davidson took immunosuppressants during her pregnancy to prevent rejection of the donor organ and has expressed a desire to have another child in the future. Globally, more than 100 womb transplants have been performed, resulting in at least 50 births since the first successful case in Sweden in 2014. — Agencies
