Woman who was given a new liver, pancreas, stomach and small and large intestine at a Miami’s Jackson-Memorial hospital in 2007 has delivered a healthy baby girl, believed to be the first known case of a five-organ transplant patient giving birth.
Just over 600 five-organ transplants have been recorded as of 2011, according to the latest figures available from the Intestinal Transplant Association.
The most recent annual report by the National Transplantation Pregnancy Registry also indicates she is the first reported case of a five-organ transplant patient in the world to give birth.
Dr. Shalih Y. Yasin, the woman’s obstetrician , said there have been some cases in Europe of births by transplant patients who had two organs “but not five.”
“We have searched all medical literature all over the world for any pregnancy that had five multi-transplants and this is the first case to our knowledge,” said the doctor with the University of Miami Health System.
Yasin said an adult with five transplanted organs who is sufficiently healthy to even consider having a child “is a miracle by itself.”
Al Ansari’s doctors said she is in fact healthy enough to try for a second baby. And they said her case also offers some hope to other multi-organ transplant patients.