First 10 womb transplants in United Kingdom given go-ahead

Britain will attempt to carry out its first womb transplants after a clinical trial enabling 10 women to undergo the procedure was approved, doctors said Wednesday.

The procedure is around a year long if successful, and the first babies born from transplanted wombs in the United Kingdom could arrive in 2017 and 2018.

The surgical team will be led by Dr Richard Smith, consultant gynecologist at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital.

Smith said the technique would offer hope to women who could only have children through adoption or surrogacy.

Ten women will be selected for the trial subject to certain criteria being met. They must be aged 38 or under, have a long-term partner and be a healthy weight.

‘For many couples, childlessness is a disaster. Previously their only option was to adopt or find a surrogate mother.

In a six-hour operation participants will receive a womb from a donor who is classed as brain dead but whose heart is still beating.

Allan Pacey, former chairman of the British Fertility Society, told The Times that the surgery “could be a game changer” for women.

Womb transplants have already been successfully performed elsewhere.

A baby would be delivered by caesarean section to prevent the donor womb suffering the trauma of labour.

There were 300 women who approached Womb Transplant United Kingdom to see if they were eligible for the trial, though only a third met the criteria. ‘There is an innate desire in many women to carry their own baby.

Before the trial begins, both the womans eggs and her partners sperm will be frozen for implantation after the operation.

Smith said using deceased donors reflected the complexities of the operation.

The embryo can only be implanted after 12 months of treatment with immunosuppressant drugs, which stop the woman rejecting the new organ.

In the transplant in Sweden, the replacement organ came from a live donor – a 61-year-old family friend of the recipient who had been through menopause seven years earlier.

Six months after giving birth, each woman will be given the option of trying for one more baby, or the womb will be removed by surgeons. Coordinaters of the project have estimated that there could be about five wombs a year available for the operation.

This is to minimise the risk of keeping women on immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of their lives, which have side-effects, including an increased risk of cancer.

Womb Transplant United Kingdom still needs around £500,000 to cover the NHS costs and get the trial up and running. “Somehow or other, somebody has always turned up and given us enough money to keep it going”, the surgeon said.