Facts: IVF
IVF is an abbreviation for in vitro fertilization.
This means fertilization in the laboratory in glass vessels or test tubes. IVF is also called in vitro fertilization.
Infertility is about as often due to a problem in the woman as in the man. For about 15 percent, no concrete explanation can be found.
In 2019, just over 4,800 Swedish children were born with the help of IVF.
Approximately one in four IVF trials in 2019 led to pregnancy and the birth of live children.
The vast majority of children born after IVF are in good health.
Sources: Karolinska Institutet, 1177.se
The study, which has been ongoing since 2012, shows that 86 percent of women who have had a donated uterus succeed in becoming pregnant with IVF (in vitro fertilization).
Admittedly, only nine women have been included in the study, but it is the first complete study in the world and the results are good even with a follow-up of the donor, recipient and children’s health several years later.
– We did not see any serious side effects in anyone, everyone is fine today, says Mats Brännström, chief physician and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg.
A total of nine children
He is the first in the world to perform a transplant of a uterus that has then undergone a completed pregnancy, which he did already ten years ago. Now five more women with a transplanted uterus have given birth. A total of nine children were born to six people with a transplanted uterus in the study.
– It is only now that the study is complete that we can say something about how effective and safe the method is, says Mats Brännström.
The oldest child in the study was born in September 2014 and is feeling well, just like the other children in the study.
– We will continue to follow them up into adulthood, says Mats Brännström.
Often the uterine donor is the mother of the recipient.
– It is thus about donated uteruses that have already undergone a pregnancy, says Mats Brännström.
2,000 affected
The recipients are often women who were born without a uterus or who have had their uterus operated on, for example due to cancer.
So far, their only alternative to having children has been to use a surrogate mother, which is forbidden in Sweden. Now there is an alternative.
Mats Brännström says that there are about 2,000 women without a uterus in Sweden. Many of them could become parents with the help of a transplanted uterus and IVF.
– We are ready to carry out the method clinically. Now it is up to politicians to decide whether it should be offered to women who have no uterus, he says.
A uterine transplant today costs around SEK 700,000, including medication and sick leave.
The study was published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.