Woman donates uterus to sister in UK's first womb transplant
In a miraculous, unprecedented piece of news, surgeons from the United Kingdom recently conducted a womb transplant successfully after a woman donated her uterus to her sister. Reportedly, the 40-year-old sister was happy to donate as she already had two children. The womb recipient had the transplant in a procedure that lasted over nine hours at Churchill Hospital in Oxford.
The recipient was 'over the moon' after the operation
The womb recipient, who does not wish to be named, is a married woman who was born with a rare condition where her original womb was underdeveloped. However, according to the medical team behind the procedure, the 34-year-old was "incredibly happy" and "over the moon" with the success of the operation. She now plans to have two children using IVF, reports The Guardian.
The surgery process involved two teams of surgeons
About 30 staff members worked in two teams across two operation rooms during the complex procedure that involved removing the donor's womb and implanting it in the recipient. Although the procedure took longer than expected, the surgeons say it went well and the transplanted womb is "fully functional." The transplant is expected to last about five years before the womb is removed.
The concept behind the surgery
Despite not having a womb, the recipient still has ovaries and produces eggs that had previously been fertilized through IVF. Now, it is hoped that she will undergo an implant procedure at a reproductive clinic using one of her five frozen embryos. A surgeon who performed the procedure said that she now has an 80 percent chance of a successful pregnancy.
'Looking forward to her having a baby'
While the procedure happened in February, it was kept a secret till now. "I'm just really happy that we've got a donor who is completely back to normal after her big op and the recipient is doing really well on her immunosuppressive therapy and looking forward to hopefully having a baby," co-lead surgeon Prof Richard Smith was quoted saying.
This will open gates to more such surgeries
The success of this operation will open the possibility of childbearing for many infertile women in the UK. Per reports, UK's second womb transplant is scheduled to take place on another woman this autumn and have more patients in the preparation stages. Globally, over 90 womb transplants have been carried out across India, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, the US, China, and Germany, among others.
