On June 14, 2025, in the operating room of Foch Hospital (Hauts-de-Seine), a team of more than 20 practitioners took turns for 18 hours to carry out a transplant as rare as symbolic. A young woman, born without uterus because of Rokitansky syndrome, received the organ from her own mother. The two patients are fine. This is the fourth uterus transplant led by the team of Professor Jean-Marc Ayoubi, a worldwide figure of this still emerging technique. This operation is part of a research protocol started in 2019, authorizing ten transplants with living donors. Already three babies were born after previous transplants: Misha, Maxine and Léonie. What if it was only the beginning?
4th uterus transplant made at Foch hospital and already 3 babies from uterus transplant
Since 2019, Professor Ayoubi’s team, Obstetrics Gynecology Head and Reproductive Medicine at Foch Hospital, has repelled the limits of reproductive medicine. In March 2019, the first French transplant was a success. The following two took place in 2022 and 2023. Result: Three little girls born of grafted uterus, in perfect health.
“”This fourth uterus transplant in France marks the continuity of a research project started over 15 years ago “specifies the official press release from Foch Hospital. The intervention of June 14, carried out between a donor mother and her receiving daughter, confirms the role of world pioneer of the French team. Professor Ayoubi has just been elected president of the International Uterine Transplantation Society (ISUTX).
Temporary treatment but hopeful
The uterus transplant is not final: it is removed after one or two deliveries, in order to avoid an immunosuppressive treatment for life. But the essential is elsewhere: this operation allows a natural pregnancy, with its sensations, its expectations, and especially its results. “”It’s just magic “testifies a beneficiary on Radio France, now the mother of a little girl.
The ideal candidate? A woman born without uterus, as in the case of Rokitansky syndrome, or having undergone hysterectomy after cancer or serious hemorrhage. The profiles are rare, but for these patients, the alternative to adoption or gestation for others finally becomes tangible.
The intervention remains long, technical and costly. It mobilizes a whole medical chain, from psychological preparation to the establishment of an in vitro embryo after the transplant. But each success strengthens the credibility of the procedure and improves its reproducibility.
A revolution in the march for reproductive medicine
First experienced in Sweden, uterus transplant is now practiced in 25 centers around the world. France stands out as a major player. The protocol of the Foch hospital provides up to 10 transplants of living donors, an unprecedented approach in Europe.
There are many medical implications: better understanding of reproductive immunity, protocols for preserving fertility, and surgical innovations. For the women concerned means: to be pregnant, to give birth by cesarean, to give life. “”The transplants carried out allow significant scientific advances in the fields of transplantation and reproduction “the Foch press release further.
The future of uterus transplant: hopes and uncertainties
Nearly a hundred uterus transplants have been tempted worldwide, with nearly 50 births. But not everyone can benefit from this technology. The cost, the risks linked to immunosuppression, and the scarcity of living donors make access still limited.
In the long term, the improvement of techniques and the expansion of the indications could change the situation. Regulations from deceased donors are also being studied. But for the moment, each successful operation remains a fragile victory, a surgical miracle.
And each baby born from a grafted uterus, a living answer to a long question that has remained without solution.