Doctors in Japan have submitted plans to start the country's first uterus transplantation programme.
A team at Fujita Health University in Aichi Prefecture, led by Professor Iori Kisu, has submitted a request for approval to recruit patients for a small-scale trial to begin next year. If it goes ahead, it would be the first uterus transplant in Japan.
The Japanese Association of Medical Sciences released a report on the topic in 2021, which indicated that it would allow approval of small-scale clinical trials.
The first successful uterus transplant took place in Sweden, and the recipient gave birth in 2014 (see BioNews 775). Since then, successful procedures have taken place in many countries including the USA, UK, Lebanon, India, Brazil and Australia (see BioNews 930, 960 and 1285). Around 80 babies are believed to have been born to the recipients so far.
The Japan Times has the full story.