Fujita Health University seeks approval for uterus transplant study

A research team at Fujita Health University in Aichi Prefecture has applied to an internal review committee to conduct Japan’s first clinical study of uterus transplants, the university said Wednesday.

The team submitted a research plan on Monday to study transplants for women without a uterus who wish to become pregnant and give birth.

“We are aiming to perform the first procedure as early as fiscal 2027,” said Iori Kisu, a professor of the university leading the research.

The plan calls for transplanting uteruses donated by relatives, such as mothers, into three women in their 20s and 30s who were born without a uterus.

The women’s eggs will be retrieved and fertilized in vitro. After confirming the absence of rejection of the transplanted uterus, the team will place an embryo within it, with the hope of a resulting pregnancy and childbirth.

Patient recruitment will begin after the review committee approves the plan.

Kisu has estimated the cost at ¥20 million ($127,000) to ¥25 million per patient. The team will consider how much patients would have to pay.

“I would like to give women the possibility of giving birth to a child they have carried themselves,” Kisu said.

The first successful birth following a uterus transplant was reported in Sweden in 2014. More than 150 such transplants have been performed overseas, resulting in the births of more than 80 children, Kisu said.

Kisu previously pursued uterus transplant research at Keio University in Tokyo, whose ethics committee approved his plan in February 2025. No transplant was performed, however.

After moving to Fujita Health University, he drew up a new research plan.

Kisu said he would begin procedures to withdraw the earlier plan.