The Institute of Kidney Diseases & Research Centre (IKDRC) in Ahmedabad became the first public sector Uterus Transplant Centre in the country to perform a rare uterine transplant on two separate Acute Undifferentiated Febrile Illness (AUFI) patients with uteruses donated from their respective biological mothers on Daughters’Day.
The Uterus transplant surgeries were performed on both patients till late on Sunday night with excellent results. The critical surgery involved three crucial stages of uterus transplantation where uteruses were first harvested from donors followed by bench surgery on organs harvested and subsequent implantation surgery on the recipients for placing uteruses.
A ten-member team from the Gynecology and Obstetrics department of the institute headed by Dr. Vineet Mishra successfully achieved the critical milestone seamlessly with outstanding results despite performing it for the first time.
The first patient to go under the knife was Rina Vanpriya, a 28-year-old housewife who had been married three years back but was diagnosed with a menstrual history of irregular cycles. She had a past history of didelphys uterus - a rare congenital embryogenic condition where a patient is born with two uteruses. It's commonly called a double uterus. It can cause pregnancy complications and painful menstruation. Rina’s 50-year-old post-menopausal mother agreed to donate her uterus to help her daughter experience the joy of motherhood.
“At this point we are delighted to announce that we have successfully performed uterus transplant surgery on both patients with good blood flow in transplanted uteruses confirmed through USG and echo color-doppler tests,” said Dr. Vineet Mishra, Director IKDRC-ITS addressing media persons on Monday at Civil Hospital compound in the city.
There is a ray of hope for thousands of females now who had completely lost the hope to experience the joy of motherhood with MRKH disorders, Absolute Uterine Factor Infertility (AUFI) condition and some born with mullerian duct anomalies, Dr. Mishra further added.
Likewise, Tabassum Banu, a 22-year-old who has been married for one and half years and diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a female reproductive system disorder. This MRKH condition causes the vagina and uterus to remain underdeveloped or absent, although external genitalia are normal. MRKH-affected individuals usually do not go through menstrual periods due to the absence of a uterus. Tabassum’s 48-year-old mother also volunteered to donate her uterus.
The organ transplant recipients are expected to go through regular menstrual cycles in the next one and half months and probably conceive in the next 4-5 months, the statement further added.
Initially, the institute will encourage only live-related transplants in which close biologically related kin of a female could participate. The uterus transplant at IKDRC will be delivered to AUFI patients with hugely subsidized transplant costs funded through various state and central government schemes.
The uterus donors shall be, ideally, between the age group of 30-60 years with healthy uteruses, the statement said.
As per an estimate, around 15 percent of India’s female population has infertility-related issues and 1 in 5000 females have an absent uterus. AUFI condition refers to infertility that is completely attributable to the uterine absence (congenital or surgical) or an abnormality (anatomic or functional) that prevents embryo implantation or completion of pregnancy to term.
