First Of Its Kind: After Unique Surgery, Uterine Cancer Survivor Becomes Mother

With the birth of a lovely baby girl, a 27-year-old woman and a uterine-cancer survivor is believed to have become the first woman in India to achieve motherhood after one of a kind surgical procedure.

Unique surgery

The woman, five years back was suffering from stage one of uterine cancer (mild-grade endometrioid adenocarcinoma). As reported by The Hindu, her surgical oncologist, Dr Chitrathara K, a Senior Consultant-Gyanaec Surgical Oncology, Lakeshore Hospital in Kerala, performed a unique surgery. The woman in question is married and wanted to experience motherhood. In such cases generally both the ovaries are removed, however, seeing the possibility, Dr Chitrathara decided to preserve her right ovary. She moved the right ovary to the abdominal wall, just below the layer of skin.

While speaking with The Logical Indian, Dr Chitrathara said, “She was suffering from stage one cancer so I realised that one of her ovaries could be preserved, otherwise we have to remove both the ovaries. I brought the right ovary to the abdominal wall and lodged it in cutaneous tissue just below the skin. There were few reasons to move the ovary to this position, one being that it would remain safe from the radiation which would be given at the lower part of the pelvis, second being the fact that the ovum retrieval is easy. In future if the ovary needs to be removed in case it turned malignant, being in the subcutaneous fat under the skin, it would require only a minor surgery. Also, it would be easier to monitor this ovary using ultrasound.” Dr Chitrathara also said that this could also be first of its kind in the country.

Joy of motherhood through IVF

In August 2016, the patient was referred to GG Hospital in Chennai for pregnancy through IVF procedure. Dr Priya Selvaraj, Fertility Specialist of GG Hospital helped the lady deliver a healthy baby girl. Dr Priya told The Hindu that generally, eggs are retrieved for IVF only through the vagina, but in this case, for the first time the eggs were retrieved through the skin (transcutaneous). Dr Priya and her team successfully retrieved healthy eggs after three attempts. “Once the eggs are removed, it is fused with the sperm and then transferred to the surrogate mother’s womb. Usually, getting healthy eggs in such cases is rare,” she said.

The Logical Indian community members congratulate the mother and applaud the doctors for achieving such a feat. We hope this medical achievement gives hope to other women who want to become mothers and are suffering from cancer.

Also Read: Human Eggs Grow In A Lab For The First Time; Opens Door For Fertility Preservation