Context:

• Recently, doctors at the Churchill Hospital Oxford, in the U.K., conducted the uterus transplant. 

About Uterus Transplant

• A uterus transplant is a surgical procedure by which a healthy uterus is transplanted in a woman whose uterus is absent or diseased.
• It can help women who lack a uterus fulfill their reproductive needs.
• A new uterus is obtained from a live or deceased donor and fitted into the recipient. 
• India’s first uterine transplant baby,  was delivered through a Cesarean section at Galaxy Care Hospital in  Pune in 2018.
• Approximately 1 in 500 women are estimated to have uterine factor infertility according to the British Medical Bulletin.

Process of Uterus Transplant

• The Uterus Transplant procedure doesn’t connect the uterus to the fallopian tubes – which ensure the ovum from the ovaries moves to the uterus – so the individual can’t become pregnant through natural means. 
• Instead, doctors remove the recipient’s ova, create embryos using in vitro fertilization, and freeze them embryos (a.k.a. cryopreservation). 
• Once the newly transplanted uterus is ‘ready’, the doctors implant the embryos in the uterus.
• To prevent the recipient’s body from rejecting the transplanted uterus, the recipient needs to take drugs that suppress the immune system. 
• These drugs are selected such that they won’t harm fetal development at any stage – from the uterus’s transplant until it is removed after childbirth.

News Source: The Hindu

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