NAGOYA - A Japanese medical university said Wednesday it is seeking approval for conducting a clinical trial of uterine transplants, aiming to enable pregnancy and childbirth by women without a uterus.
Fujita Health University in Aichi Prefecture said it submitted a proposal to its internal review board on Monday. If a uterus transplant is conducted as planned, it would mark the first case in Japan.
"We want to start the research sometime next year," Iori Kisu, a professor at the university, said at a press conference.
The trial covers about three patients with disorders including Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome, which causes the vagina and uterus to be underdeveloped or absent.
Under the plan, researchers will transplant a uterus from donors to the patients and implant the patients' eggs fertilized with their partners' sperm into the transplanted uterus to achieve pregnancy. Donors are expected to be female relatives including mothers of the patients.
While the procedure could offer new hope for women who lack a uterus due to disorders or congenital conditions, it has also raised ethical questions over the use of transplantation for a purpose other than to save life and the need to remove a healthy organ from a living donor.
The move comes after the university established a working group to discuss uterine transplants in June.
The Japanese Association of Medical Sciences released in July 2021 a report allowing uterine transplants for clinical trials in a small number of cases.
According to the working group, the world's first successful birth following the transplant of a uterus was reported in Sweden in 2014. More than 150 such transplant procedures have been performed overseas, resulting in more than 80 births.
In Japan, Keio University in Tokyo also applied to conduct uterus transplants and received approval in 2025, but it has yet to perform one.
