A mother donated her uterus to her 21-year old daughter for a transplant that was conducted by doctors at Pune's Galaxy Care Hospital. Medical Director Dr Shailesh Puntambekar said, “The patients are fine. The surgery took nine and a half hours in total. The procedure is difficult because multiple large arteries are to be joined there, and veins that are small and short. It is technically very tough.” The patient will have to wait for at least a year before she can try to conceive through in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
“We are responsible for the patient and fulfilling their dreams of becoming a mother, which was impossible for them until now,” Puntambekar said. He added that he was aware of the “responsibility on his shoulders” but was “relaxed and confident”. The complexity of the procedure affects the success rate of uterus transplants. This was India's first attempt at the pioneering surgery, and the world's first.
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Sweden's University of Gothenburg, Dr Mats Brännström said only six babies have ever been delivered from such procedures, two from the same mother. He had led the team that successfully performed the first such procedure in 2014, when after 11 unsuccessful attempts around the world, a healthy baby was born.
