Surgeons have successfully performed the first womb transplant in the UK. The 34 year-old, whose sister was the living donor of the uterus, joins a growing list of women across the world seeking to overcome infertility through the procedure. Since September 2014, when the first child was born to a woman with a transplanted uterus, around 50 babies have been born from over 90 transplants including in the US, Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, Germany and India. A study last year of seven women in Sweden, where the surgery was pioneered, reported that six became pregnant and gave birth using IVF. Three of the women had two children each. The UK woman is “incredibly happy” with how the procedure went and is hoping to have two children via IVF.
Photograph courtesy Womb Transplant UK