Surgeon Set To Perform First Uterus Transplant On Transgender Woman

A surgeon in India is preparing to carry out a uterus transplant for a transgender woman who hopes to become pregnant.

Dr. Narendra Kaushik, a surgeon in New Delhi who runs the Olmec Transgender Surgery Institute, announced this week that he would attempt implantation of the donated uterus so that the transgender woman can undergo IVF to give birth. While a few uterus transplants have been successful on cis-gendered women in the past, they have failed in transgender women. However, Dr. Kaushik believes innovations in technology will bring about promising results.

“Every transgender woman wants to be as female as possible. And that includes being a mother,” he told The Mirror.

Dr. Kaushik did not give many details regarding when the surgery would be performed or the patient receiving the uterus, but he did indicate that the procedure was happening “very soon.”

If the uterus transplant is successful, it will be the first uterine transplant to a trans-woman. It was attempted once in 1931 on a painter named Lili Elbe. Sadly, she died three months later from complications. The donated wombs come from both dead and living patients, and the surgery remains extremely rare.