How uterus transplants are making parenthood possible

Peyton Meave and her husband Adam didn’t have to travel far to enroll in a clinical trial for a new procedure that could eventually make their dream of becoming pregnant come true. Born without a uterus due to a condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, Peyton had known since she was 15 that she wanted to give birth to a child of her own. But she had no hope of seeing her dream fulfilled, until 2016.

That’s when the couple traveled from their home in Oklahoma to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, where Peyton was enrolled in the Uterus Transplant program. She had a successful transplant and ultimately gave birth to a girl they named Emersyn, describing the experience as “life-changing.”

“I’d love for more women to be able to have this option as another avenue outside surrogacy and adoption,” Peyton said. “One of my desires when participating in the trial was that someday it would help the 15-year-old girl who doesn’t have a uterus, or the woman who has to go through a hysterectomy due to cancer.”

Peyton was one of the first people the program treated from out-of-state, but she has not been the last.

Far from it.

The Uterus Transplant Program: Helping women worldwide

The program, led by Liza Johannesson, MD, PhD, a gynecological surgeon on the medical staff of Baylor University Medical Center and Giuliano Testa, MD, chief of abdominal transplantation at Baylor Scott & White Transplant Services — Dallas have performed transplants for women living in six different countries and numerous places in the United States since the program opened in 2021. People do not need to stay in Dallas for the duration of their treatment, either. They are permitted to travel back and forth, as needed, between Dallas and their home state or country.

“Infertility is a very special disease,” said Dr. Johannesson, who is the medical director of the program. “Women who have no uterus or a nonfunctioning uterus have had no other options to have a baby until now apart from surrogacy or adoption. And those two options are not legal or accepted in many countries, cultures and religions around the world, so uterus transplant is a welcome alternative that can make these women’s dreams a reality.”

The Uterus Transplant Program at Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, is the largest in the world, performing one transplant per month, on average. It was also the first program in the world to offer uterus transplants outside of a clinical trial in 2021. Any woman without a uterus, who lost their uterus at a young age, or who has a nonfunctioning uterus, is a potential candidate for a uterus transplant in the program.

Dr. Johannesson, who also delivers her patients’ babies, says, “When I show the parents their baby for the first time and see their faces, it’s worth everything. There’s not a dry eye in the delivery room.”

To learn more about how The Uterus Transplant Program at Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health is changing lives, click here.