Background: Uterus transplantation (UTx) has come of age in the 21st Century, building on the 20th Century developments in vascular anastomosis and effective immunosuppressive protocols enabling solid organ transplantation to become the life extending and life improving treatment option we know today. However, UTx has the goal of enabling reproduction, meaning that research focused on establishment of pregnancy and healthy live birth in addition to surgical technique and immunosuppression. Summary: The Dallas UtErus Transplant Study (DUETS), established at Baylor University Medical Center in 2015 is one of four UTx programs in the United States, and holds the distinction of being home not only to the first U.S. live birth, but also the highest volume UTx program worldwide, with 23 uterus transplants performed to date, resulting in 15 live births. Innovations pioneered at our center span all aspects of the Utx process, seeking to improve success in terms of achieving pregnancy and live birth, while also minimizing the burden on donors and recipients. The have included: 1) a deceased donor hysterectomy approach that allows the uterus to be procured prior to cross-clamp; 2) proof of concept with use of only superior uterine veins after procuring both the superior and inferior uterine veins during the donor surgery, enabling the choice of the best option in terms of size and location for outflow, while also preserving ovary viability in living donors; 3) contribution to robot assisted technique/minimal invasive technique with vaginal extraction of the uterus graft for living donor surgeries, shortening donor recovery times; 4) developing a robot-assisted technique for graft hysterectomies, improving recovery times for recipients at the end of their UTx journey; 5) refining immunosuppression protocols to enable embryo transfer 3 months after induction therapy, increasing recipients’ chances for achieving up to two live births during the 5 years post-transplant the UTx protocol specifies; and 6) building on our clinical trial experience to now offer UTx in the U.S. outside of a clinical study. Key Messages: Our center along with others throughout the world have demonstrated that UTx can be reproducible, result in live births from both living and deceased donors, and safely introduced as a clinical option. Due to the complexity of UTx as well as the need for long-term multidisciplinary care, centers implementing UTx should have an established abdominal transplant program, gynecologic surgery program, high-risk obstetric and neonatal care, and institutional support and oversight, and should partner with established UTx programs for protocol development and operative proctoring.

The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel