Two back-to-back uterine transplants in Gujarat for the first time

Last weekend Gujarat witnessed for the first time not one but two uterine transplants in a span of nine hours. These operations were carried out by doctors from Pune.

The team of surgeons were invited by the Gujarat Government from Pune’s Galaxy Care Hospital to perform these back-to-back uterine transplants on two women both of whom are in their 20s. The operations took place at the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre, Ahmedabad Civil Hospital campus and were helmed by Dr. Shailesh Puntambekar, the Medical Director of GCH.

Talking to Indian Express, Dr. Puntambekar, said: “We performed nine uterine transplants, all in Maharashtra, before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020… Now, with the Gujarat government giving approval for uterine transplants in the State, our 11-member team of surgeons conducted the transplants on the two women on Sunday.”

Sharing details about the two women, Dr. Milind Telang, GCH’s Chief Gynaecologist informed that both were stable with no blood transfusion required. “The first patient was 28 years old, who had a small uterus and was infertile. She and her 49-year-old mother — the donor — were evaluated as per the transplant norms, and the transplant was done. The second patient was 22 years old, who suffered from an absent uterus due to Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome. The woman, who has been married for three years, was donated the uterus by her mother following an evaluation.”

Following the surgeries, the two women and their families were counselled.

Women who are suffering from absolute uterine factor infertility are unable to get pregnant because they either don’t have a uterus or their uterus is no longer functioning correctly.

The first two successful uterine transplants in India were done in Galaxy Care Hospital in May 2017 while the third was done in January 2018. As these transplants are performed through laparoscopic surgery, they are painless.