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Key Ethical Considerations in the Study and Clinical Translation of Uterine Transplantation

  • Vascularized Composite Allografts (L Cendales and R Barth, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Uterine factor infertility (UFI) is a condition that affects approximately 1.5 million women around the world. Advances in reproductive science have made it possible that uterine transplantation may be the first true treatment for women with UFI. While uterine transplantation is still in the experimental stages, the first successful live births from women who received a uterine transplant mark the real potential of this procedure. Although uterine transplant may offer an important new step for the management of women with UFI, it also poses important ethical questions that must be thoroughly considered and addressed before this procedure becomes a clinical reality. In this article, we review the major ethical issues associated with the study of and expected future clinical translation of uterine transplantation and propose a series of steps to reduce risks to all those involved in the process.

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References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health Institute, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave, A81, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA

    Sara E. Arian, Tommaso Falcone & Ruth M. Farrell

  2. Department of Bioethics, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, JJ60, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA

    Jed Adam Gross & Ruth M. Farrell

  3. Transplantation Center, 2950 Cleveland Clinic Blvd, Weston, FL, 33331, USA

    Andreas Tzakis

Authors
  1. Sara E. Arian
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  2. Tommaso Falcone
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  3. Jed Adam Gross
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  4. Andreas Tzakis
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  5. Ruth M. Farrell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ruth M. Farrell.

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Conflict of Interest

Sara Arien, Tommaso Falcone, Jed Adam Gross, Andreas Tzakis and Ruth Farrell declare no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Vascularized Composite Allografts

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Arian, S.E., Falcone, T., Gross, J.A. et al. Key Ethical Considerations in the Study and Clinical Translation of Uterine Transplantation. Curr Transpl Rep 3, 410–415 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40472-016-0129-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40472-016-0129-2

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