Uterine transplantation: A maternal-fetal medicine perspective

Uterine transplantation is a novel approach to solving a clinical problem faced by women with uterine factor infertility whose desire to parent includes a desire to give birth. The ethical precepts used for other solid organ transplants are helpful in developing normative frameworks for understanding this experimental therapy. Nevertheless, both fetal and neonatal risks complicate this calculus and therefore it is useful to incorporate analyses used in other realms of maternal-fetal medicine to understand and justify this research. Preliminary data on maternal and neonatal outcomes from the many centers exploring this technique are encouraging, but as these techniques move into mainstream care, ongoing vigilance will be necessary to ensure that women and their families are afforded similar protections required of research protocols. Uterine transplantation is a captivating topic for the myriad ethical issues it raises. Many of these issues have been analyzed extensively in the literature since the marvel of solid organ transplantation was first realized in the 1950s. But we have now been collecting data on uterine transplantation since the first successful birth in 2015¹ and the questions raised have morphed very quickly from "Can we do this?" to "Should we do this?" and "How should we do this?" The good news for patients and the public is that bioethicists have been front and center in participating in and helping to inform the rolling out of this innovative treatment for rare forms of infertility. The model for such an integrative role of ethics in uterine transplantation programs grew out of similar programs in high risk obstetrical procedures such as the repair of fetal meningomyelocele trials.² The goal of this review is to outline some of the key issues these transplantations raise from the perspective of maternal-fetal medicine, a field well acquainted with the dilemmas that may arise in maximizing outcomes for both pregnant women and their fetuses.