America's first uterus transplant was botched by a vaginal yeast infection, doctors who performed the surgery revealed Friday.
Twenty-six-year-old Lindsay McFarland of Lubbock, Texas, received the transplant Feb. 24, only to have the organ removed two weeks later on March 8 because of a sudden, unspecified complication. McFarland's doctors at the Cleveland Clinic revealed Friday that they had to remove the organ because of a yeast infection.
"Preliminary results suggest that the complication was due to an infection caused by an organism that is commonly found in a woman's reproductive system," the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement. "The infection appears to have compromised the blood supply to the uterus, causing the need for its removal. The health of our patient is and has always been our primary concern."
McFarland's surgery comes after a successful line of uterus transplants from live donors done in Sweden. After undergoing a successful nine-hour uterus transplant from a deceased donor on Feb. 24, everything seemed to be going fine for the the mother of three adopted children. McFarland had been born without a uterus, but she had wanted to experience her own pregnancy.
McFarland was recovering fine for nearly two weeks until she suddenly started bleeding heavily on March 7. After she was rushed to the hospital, doctors found that her bleeding was caused by an infection that had spread to the artery that provided blood flow to the uterus. Doctors said that McFarland's uterus transplant had to be removed because the infection had seriously damaged the artery, was causing clots, and could have led to life-threatening complications.
Doctors later revealed that the mysterious infection that led McFarland's transplant to be removed was caused by the the most common species of yeast- Candida albicans.
"The complication was an infection with a fungus called candida albicans, which is ubiquitous in a lot of parts of the body, particularly female organs," Cleveland Clinic transplant surgeon Dr. Andreas Tzakis said Friday. "Normally it resides in people without causing a problem. If someone is immunocompromised it can cause an infection."
Tzakis added that McFarland is currently "doing well" after her operation to remove her uterus transplant.
"(She) is a wonderful young lady, with a very powerful personality, an excellent family and able to handle this extremely well," he said. "She is a pioneer and her heart is all in."
