Erste Uterus-Transplantation erfolgreich: Im Frühjahr 2000 wurde einer 26-jährigen Patientin eine Gebärmutter transplantiert, die von einer 46-jährigen Spenderin stammte.

Der transplantierte Uterus heilte zuerst komplikationslos ein und reagierte schon nach kurzer Zeit mit einer Entzugsblutung auf die entsprechende Hormonbehandlung. Drei Monate nach der Transplantation musste der Uterus aufgrund einer akuten Thrombose entfernt werden. Diese erste - teilweise erfolgreiche - Transplantation ermutigt nach Expertenmeinung zu weiteren

Dr. med. Jochen Kubitschek

FIRST SUCCESSFUL TRANSPLANTATION OF THE HUMAN UTERUS REPORTED 

March 7, 2002—The first recorded human uterine transplantation was performed on April 6, 2000 in a 26-year old woman who had undergone hysterectomy six years previously for life-threatening hemorrhage.  The donor was a 46-year old woman whose medical condition required hysterectomy.  The transplanted uterus responded well and exhibited normal withdrawal bleeding after appropriate hormonal therapy; 99 days post-transplantation, acute vascular thrombosis occurred and the recipient underwent hysterectomy.

Drs. Wafa Fageeh, Hassan Raffa, Hussain Jabbad, and Anass Marzouki, in the Multiorgan Transplant Unit, King Fahad Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, published their report in the March 2002 issue of the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics (Int J Gynecol Obstet 2002 76/3: 245-251).

According to Louis G. Keith, M.D. of Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago and Giuseppe Del Priore, M.D. of New York University School of Medicine, New York, in an accompanying editorial (Int J Gynecol Obstet 2002 76/3:1-2), the fact that the patient developed acute vascular thrombosis 99 days post-transplantation and required hysterectomy is not the equivalent of a complete operative failure, as the uterus had previously demonstrated its ability to respond to combined estrogen-progesterone treatment with endometrial sonographic proliferation of 18 millimeters and withdrawal bleeding. 

Drs. Keith and Del Priore note that the transplantation of human reproductive organs is one of the last medical frontiers in the domain of transplantation surgery.  Although generative transplantation is sometimes considered of secondary importance because, unlike a heart, the uterus is not essential to the survival of the recipient, the ability to reproduce is important on a social and emotional basis.  To some individuals, childbearing is the greatest event of a lifetime.  Thus, this case is seen as a milestone in the treatment of patients who are infertile. 

Dr. Fageeh and her co-authors conclude, "Further clinical trials and additional development of the surgical techniques could make uterine transplantation useful in the treatment of infertility, especially in communities where the surrogate mother concept is unacceptable from a religious or ethical point of view."  The full text of the article is generally available on  www.womenshealth-elsevier.com.

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Louis G. Keith, M.D.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Northwestern University Medical School
333 East Superior Street, Room 464 Chicago IL 60611
Fax: +1 312-908-8500