The first babies from womb transplants 'to be born next year'



The women were either born without a womb or had theirs removed because of cervical cancer - they received the transplants from living relatives

They will now have IVF treatment to implant embryos into their wombs

They are not able to conceive naturally as the wombs were not connected to their fallopian tubes - but they have previously had embryos frozen



Previous attempts to transplant a womb - one in Saudi Arabia and one in Turkey - both failed to produce a baby but the Turkish woman did conceive

She later had a miscarriage after two months of pregnancy

Derya Sert (pictured), from Turkey, had a transplant in August 2011. She subsequently conceived but then miscarried after eight weeks of pregnancy

The first baby from a donor womb could be born next year after nine childless women received transplants.

The women, who were born without a womb or had it removed due to cancer, received organs donated by close relatives.

They will soon try to become pregnant through IVF in a pioneering trial in Sweden that gives hope to thousands of childless women in the UK.

The new wombs, taken from a mother or other living relative who has completed her family, will not only allow the women to experience the joys of pregnancy but will mean they have babies that are genetically their own.

Those whose mother was the donor will be using the womb that carried them for nine months to carry their baby.

The groundbreaking transplants bring hope to at least 15,000 British women of childbearing age. However, the method is controversial because it involves taking wombs from living donors. The Swedish team favours it because the organs are generally in better condition and a better immunological match.

Other surgeons in the same field do not believe it is right to put a living donor through such a major operation when it is not life-saving. They say the best option is to use an organ from a dead donor. This allows them to transplant extra tissue and the major blood vessels needed to take the strain of pregnancy.

Dr Mats Brannstrom, of the University of Gothenburg, who spent more than a decade perfecting the complex surgical techniques needed, said: ‘This is a new kind of surgery.’

He added that the women who received new wombs are doing well and will soon try to become pregnant using IVF – but there are no guarantees of success.

The Swedish women all received wombs donated by living female relatives. Image shows the University of Gothenburg team practising how to carry out the operations

Richard Smith, head of Womb Transplant UK, says the charity is ready to give five British women wombs from dead donors, subject to receiving ethical clearance and raising the £500,000 required to cover the cost of surgery. ‘We are good to go, save for the fact we haven’t got any money,’ he said.

Mr Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon, described the Swedish breakthrough as ‘amazing’ and said a successful birth would bolster similar projects around the world. Any babies the Swedish women bear are likely to be delivered by caesarean section and the new wombs will be removed after only one or two pregnancies.

The women are on powerful immunosuppressant drugs but the biggest worry is how well a transplanted womb will cope with the strains of pregnancy, during which the womb swells from the size of a pear to that of a melon. Critics question the process, with fertility expert Lord Winston saying the risks are too great and some women should accept that they will never bear children.

The women had IVF before the transplant, using their own eggs to make embryos

Those in favour say it is the only way for some women to fulfil their deep-seated yearning to have a baby.

Experts say the operations will only be considered a success on the birth of a healthy baby.

Dr Yacoub Khalaf, medical director of the Assisted Conception unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in London, said: ‘What remains to be seen is whether this is a viable option or if this is going to be confined to research and limited experimentation.’

The world’s first womb transplant took place in Saudi Arabia in 2000. However, the woman’s body rejected the donated organ after four months.

Turkish doctors performed a successful transplant in 2011, but patient Derya Sert lost her baby during pregnancy last year.