Yeast Infection Caused First Ever Uterus Transplant to Fail

The uterus transplant, regarded as the first performed in the United States, was announced as a failure due to a yeast infection. In February, 26-year-old Lindsey McFarland became the first American patient to receive a full uterus transplant. Cleveland Clinic doctors transferred the organ from a deceased donor in a surgery which took nine hours.

McFarland, a mother of three adopted boys stated that she was 16 when she was told that she would never have children. On Friday, Cleveland Clinic transplant surgeon Dr. Andreas Tzakis stated that McFarland suffered a fever later that day which led to an emergency removal of the uterus. He said that no other details were available at the time.

The uterus transplant patient developed a complication because of an infection with a fungus named candida albicans, which was found in a lot of parts in the body, particularly female organs. Normally, the fungus resided in people without causing any issues. However, if someone was immunocompromised, it could cause an infection. That infection compromised McFarlan's blood supply to the uterus, according to a feature from Fox 40.

Candida albicans was the most common form of yeast that could cause human infections. These yeasts normally lived on the skin and mucous membranes. However, an overgrowth of these fungi could turn into an oral infection called thrush or vaginal yeast problems in women.

Cleveland Clinic was the first to attempt the procedure in the United States, however, doctors in Sweden had performed the surgery using live donors since 2012. There had been five successful live births post-transplant. One transplant led to a bacterial infection which also forced doctors to perform an emergency surgery to remove of the transplanted uterus.

The uterus transplants were reportedly doing well. Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital were also approved by the United Network for Organ Sharing to conduct uterus transplants and and clinical trials, according to a report by the ABC News.