Little Manuel has become the second baby born to a woman with a uterus transplant in Spain, after another woman with the same transplant gave birth in March 2023.
“This surgery is one of the most complex there is and we have demonstrated, not once, but twice, that we are capable of doing it with very good results,” said Antonio Alcaraz, head of the Urology and Renal Transplant Service, at the Hospital. Barcelona Clinic, where both uterus transplant surgeries have been carried out.
On January 2, Manuel was born, weighing 2.9 kilograms, and both he and Maira Montes, the mother, are in good health, according to the Clínic.
The transplant took place on April 4, 2022 and was possible thanks to the donation of Maira’s mother’s uterus, in an intervention led by the head of the Gynecology Service, Francisco Carmona, and the head of the Urology and Renal Transplant Service , Antonio Alcaraz.
In this procedure, some technological modification was introduced with respect to the first uterus transplant, since the team had an exoscope, which consists of a high-magnification lens and high image definition.
This device helped in bench surgery, at which time the uterus is outside the body and is prepared to be transferred, and in the implant in open surgery.
Two months after the surgery, Maira Montes already had her first period and after a few months the fertilization process began. From the Clínic, they assure that Maira has had a completely normal pregnancy and with the planned controls as a result of the transplant.
Likewise, in week 37 a cesarean section was performed since uterus transplant patients cannot give birth vaginally because it puts the organ and the baby at risk.
The path began in 2015, when the Hospital Clínic obtained permission from ethics committees and the Department of Health to carry out an experimental program for uterus transplantation in five cases with Rokitansky syndrome, which are women born without a uterus or tubes. Fallopian, but with ovaries.
The first uterus transplant in our country was performed in October 2020 and in March 2023 Jesús became the first baby to be born in Spain after this surgery
