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Woman Who Received Uterus Transplant Now Pregnant

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Pregnant Woman and Stethoscope (Image credit: Pregnancy photo via Shutterstock)

A 22-year-old woman in Turkey is now pregant after receiving a transplanted uterus, according to an Associated Press report. 

The woman, Derya Sert, was born without a uterus, received a tranplanted organ in August 2011 and is now six weeks along in a "healthy" pregnancy, the report said. Doctors placed an embryo that was made using Sert's own egg cell into her uterus in March. 

Dr. Andreas Tzakis, director of the transplant program at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, spoke with MyHealthNewsDaily about uterine transplants in 2011. 

The surgery is challenging, Tzakis said. The transplanted uterus needs to be connected properly to the body's veins and arteries to ensure an adequate blood supply reaches the organ. What's more, the organ's position deep in the pelvis makes it difficult to access. It needs to be placed in the correct position to function in reproduction, he said.

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Karen Rowan
Karen Rowan
Health Editor
Karen came to LiveScience in 2010, after writing for Discover and Popular Mechanics magazines, and working as a correspondent for the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. She holds an M.S. degree in science and medical journalism from Boston University, as well as an M.S. in cellular biology from Northeastern Illinois University. Prior to becoming a journalist, Karen taught science at Adlai E. Stevenson High School, in Lincolnshire, Ill. for eight years.