Uterine Transplants: A New Frontier in Science
By Shari Rudavsky,
Indy Star
| 12. 17. 2011
Researchers, including some from IU, are studying procedure than could benefit thousands
In the early days of infertility research, scientists -- flush with the promise of transplant medicine -- wondered whether replacing the uterus would help women who were unable to conceive. But less invasive treatments proved feasible, and such research fell by the wayside.
Now, a handful of researchers, including some at the Indiana University School of Medicine, are exploring whether uterine transplants might be able to help women who lack a womb to bear children.
Thousands of women could benefit, but practical and ethical questions remain. When should elective transplants be used? Is a mother's desire to carry her own child reason enough? How might transplant rejection drugs affect a fetus?
The hunger for answers is strong enough that an Indiana University gynecologist convened a conference Dec. 5 at which two dozen people, including international experts in uterine and facial transplants, pondered the next steps.
"This is the first time that I think IU has looked at this seriously," said Dr. Giuseppe Del Priore, Mary Fendrich Hulman Professor of Gynecologic Surgery. "It's encouraging that so many people think it's a...
Related Articles
CGS is excited to announce the launch of a new anti-eugenics initiative that has been years in the making. Legacies of Eugenics in Science, Medicine, and Technology kicks off with a monthly essay series published at the Los Angeles Review of Books that will expose and contest the reemergence of eugenic ideas in contemporary health sciences, human biotechnology, public health, and medicine. Community and campus-based events featuring the authors are also being planned. The project is a collaboration among CGS...
By Jason Kehe, Wired | 04.11.2024
God help the babies! Or, absent God, a fertility startup called Orchid. It offers prospective parents a fantastical choice: Have a regular baby or have an Orchid baby. A regular baby might grow up and get cancer. Or be born...
By Neel Shah, The Preprint | 04.11.2024
Years ago, I interviewed for a residency position at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Standing before the domed Victorian building at the campus entrance, I couldn’t help but be in awe of the history of the place, the great...
By Eleanor Hayward and Joanna Crawford, The Times | 03.29.2024
Gazing out at the Mediterranean from an idyllic rocky mountaintop, Sophie Hermann announced to her half a million Instagram followers that she had decided to freeze her eggs. Since that post in August, the 37-year-old former Made in Chelsea star...