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 The case, published in The Lancet medical journal, involved
connecting veins from the donor uterus with the recipient's veins,
as well as linking arteries, ligaments and vaginal canals.
It comes after 10 previously known cases of uterus transplants from
deceased donors - in the United States, the Czech Republic and
Turkey - failed to produce a live birth.
The girl born in the Brazilian case was delivered via caesarean
section at 35 weeks and three days, and weighed 2,550 grams (nearly
6 lbs), the case study said.
Dani Ejzenberg, a doctor at Brazil's Sao Paulo University hospital
who led the research, said the transplant - carried out in September
2016 when the recipient was 32 - shows the technique is feasible and
could offer women with uterine infertility access to a larger pool
of potential donors.
The current norm for receiving a womb transplant is that the organ
would come from a live family member willing to donate it.
"The numbers of people willing and committed to donate organs upon
their own deaths are far larger than those of live donors, offering
a much wider potential donor population," Ejzenberg said in a
statement about the results.
She added, however, that the outcomes and effects of womb donations
from live and deceased donors have yet to be compared, and said the
technique could still be refined and optimized.
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The first baby born after a live donor womb transplant was in Sweden
in 2013. Scientists have so far reported a total of 39 procedures of
this kind, resulting in 11 live births.
Experts estimate that infertility affects around 10 to 15 percent of
couples of reproductive age worldwide. Of this group, around one in
500 women have uterine problems.
Before uterus transplants became possible, the only options to have
a child were adoption or surrogacy.
In the Brazilian case, the recipient had been born without a uterus
due to a condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome.
The donor was 45 and died of a stroke.
Five months after the transplant, Ejzenberg's team wrote, the uterus
showed no signs of rejection, ultrasound scans were normal, and the
recipient was having regular menstruation. The woman's previously
fertilized and frozen eggs were implanted after seven months and 10
days later she was confirmed pregnant.
At seven months and 20 days - when the case study report was
submitted to The Lancet - the baby girl was continuing to breastfeed
and weighed 7.2 kg (16 lb).
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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