Turkish doctor successful in conducting uterus transplant for 2nd time

ANTALYA

A Turkish doctor successfully conducted the country’s second uterus transplant in the southern province of Antalya on July 27.

Doctor Ömer Özkan transplanted a uterus from a cadaveric donor into 32-year-old Havva Erdem in an eight-hour operation in the University Hospital of Antalya with the help of a 40-member medical team, including his wife, Özlenen Özkan.

“We are very happy to announce that we have completed the operation,” Özlenen Özkan said at the start of a news conference in the hospital.

The uterus belonged to a 40-year-old woman whose cerebral death was announced late on July 26. After her family accepted the organ donation, the medical team started the preparations immediately.

“We started this risky operation at 4 a.m.,” said Ömer Özkan, who also made the world’s first uterus transplant to a 23-year-old woman, Derya Sert, in 2011.

After the transplantation, Sert gave birth to a baby boy in 2020.

“It took nine years for Derya to have a baby. We have done the second operation today. We gained some experience from Derya’s case. Due to this, I am sure Havva will become pregnant quicker,” Ömer Özkan added.

The donor’s liver, lungs, kidneys and corneas were transplanted into some seven other recipients in some other provinces.

Ömer Özkan is also known for conducting Turkey’s first face and arms transplant operations in the last decade.

“This is the 12th tissue transplantation operation in 11 years. There is no medical center in the world that has succeeded this,” Ömer Özkan said, praising the University Hospital of Antalya.