A medical team in South Korea has carried out the country’s first successful uterus transplant on a 35-year-old woman who was born with a non-functional womb.

A multi-disciplinary team from the Samsung Medical Centre carried out the operation in January 2023 with a uterus from a deceased donor and declared the procedure successful after the patient had been in a stable condition for over 10 months.

The patient had been diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome, a condition that affects about one in 5,000 women at birth and is characterised by an underdeveloped or absent uterus.

She had previously undergone one failed transplant which was removed two weeks after the surgery.

For both the patient and the medical team, the surgery itself is only half of the battle. Although the outcome of the transplant is promising, the success of a uterus transplant is determined not only by the acceptance of the organ, but also the delivery of a healthy baby.

Uterus transplants are not intended to be permanent and are surgically removed after one or two pregnancies to avoid the patient from being dependent on immunosuppressive drugs, which are needed to prevent the body from rejecting the transplanted uterus.

Uterus transplants are still considered to be a fairly experimental surgery worldwide. The first successful womb transplant to result in the birth of a healthy baby was performed in Sweden in 2014. Medical teams in several other countries - including Britain, Germany and India - have also carried out successful transplants.

Besides the uniqueness of the surgery, it is also a costly procedure that is not covered by South Korea’s National Health Insurance policy.

Nevertheless, for infertile women wishing to give birth to biological children, a uterus transplant is currently their only option, as childbirth through surrogacy - a process where another person carries the pregnancy on behalf of the intended parent - is currently not recognised by South Korean law. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK