World First Ever Uterus Transplant Takes Place

The Medical Team That Performed The Surgery

Doctors have performed the world's first mother-to-daughter uterus transplants, scientists revealed today.
Specialists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden said two women, who are both in their thirties, received wombs from their mothers in surgical procedures on September 15 and 16, with no complications.
The university said one recipient had her uterus removed many years ago due to cervical cancer while the other was born without a uterus.
When the complete uterus is removed from the donor it is placed on ice while it is prepared for implantation. It may take between 20-40 minutes after the uterus has been placed in the recipient before new blood vessels begin to function. After the birth of a child the transplanted uterus is removed so that the recipient can stop taking anti-rejection drugs.
Team leader Professor Mats Brannstrom said both women ‘are doing fine but are tired after surgery. The donating mothers are up and walking and will be discharged from the hospital within a few days.’
Turkish doctors last year said they performed the first successful uterus transplant, giving a womb from a deceased donor to a young woman.
The success of these transplants could give hope of having children to thousands of women who were born without a uterus or lost it at a young age through cervical cancer.
It is estimated around 15 per cent of women are infertile for various reasons.
However whether or not these two women, who have not been named, will be able to have children is not yet certain as Braennstroem explained that they would have to wait one year before undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) with their own frozen embryos.
Successful pregnancies have occurred in transplanted uteri in animals, including mice and large animals but, as yet not in primates.
Nevertheless, the scientists at the University of Goteborg are hopeful they have a 'good chance' of their patients having children.
Prof Brannstrom said: 'Today, most types of infertility are treated with in vitro fertilization, hormonal stimulation, or sperm injection, and in Sweden, several thousand children are born annually with the assistance of these techniques.
'The lack of a uterus is one of the last types of infertility that we are unable to treat. Uterine transplantation has the potential to address this major clinical problem.'
Women go through the menopause around the age of 50 when their ovaries stop producing eggs. However, their womb remain viable. Britain's oldest mother, Patricia Rashbrook, gave birth to a son via a caesarean at the age of 62 after using donor eggs.
The Regional Ethics Committee in Gothenburg gave the green light to the procedure earlier this year. A total of ten uterus transplants will be carried out.