World's first baby born from womb transplanted from dead donor

The mother of the child had been born with a condition called the Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, which affects around one in 4,500 women, and result in the uterus and the vagina not forming properly.

However, the woman's ovaries were fine, and doctors were thus able to remove eggs, fertilize them with the father-to-be's sperm, and freeze them.

Then, in 2016, the operation took place.

The donor was a 45-year-old mother of three, who had died due to a burst blood vessel in her brain.

The 10-hour-long operation involved the removal of the deceased donor's uterus and transplanting it to the recipient, then 32 years old.

Doctors also removed a stump of the donor's vagina, and attached it to the recipient, and connected veins, arteries, ligaments, and vaginal canals.

About six weeks after the operation, the 32-year-old started menstruating.

Seven months after the operation, her fertilized eggs were planted in her new uterus, resulting in a pregnancy.

When the case was published in medical journal Lancet, the baby girl born from the transplanted womb was already seven months old, weighing 7.2kg, and was being breastfed.

The successful live birth was indeed a medical milestone, considering the fact that getting a live donor to donate a uterus is a difficult task.

Additionally, live donor transplants are also more expensive as it includes hospitalization costs of the donor, as well as a very long surgery procedure.

While the current procedure needs more refinement, it's certainly a big step in allowing infertile women to have children without resorting to surrogacy or adoption.