Derya Sert, who was born without a uterus, became the first woman in the world to receive a womb from a deceased donor. The operation was performed successfully on August 9, 2011 at Akdeniz University Hospital in southern Turkey.

Previously in Saudi Arabia, in the year 2000, a woman received a uterus from a living donor, but the organ had to be removed 99 days later due to heavy clotting. Omer Ozkan, micro-surgeon and a member of the surgical team in Turkey said that it was a disadvantage to have a living donor. “In that operation, the vein was too short for the anastomosis, and the uterus was not supported very well,” another member of the team, gynecologist Munire Erman Akar added.

The Turkish team said they were able to overcome such difficulties by removing wider tissue surrounding the uterus and placing it well inside the body of the recipient together with longer vessels to supply the organ.

The doctors also said that immunosuppressive medications had improved significantly over the past few years and this would reduce chances of rejection of the uterus. However during pregnancy the dose of the drugs would need  to be lowered to enable Sert to carry a healthy baby through that period. “The surgery was a success…but we will be successful when she has her baby. For now, we are happy that the tissue is living,” Ozkan said.

The doctors have stressed that at least six to eight months have to pass before the patient can be handed over to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) specialists.