Doctors from the U.K. have been granted approval to perform ten womb transplants as part of a clinical trial that would begin in 2016.
Womb transplant (or uterine transplant) is a surgical procedure performed on women who were born without it or have lost it because of a disease like cancer. The first successful pregnancy of a woman who had undergone womb transplant was reported in October 2014 by The Lancet. The baby was born through caesarean section by a 36-year-old mother who received the womb from a 61-year-old live donor.
The success story of the first pregnancy stirred doctors from the U.K. Research Team led by J. Richard Smith, a consultant gynecologist at the West London Gynaecological Cancer Centre, Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea Hospital, Imperial College London. They hope to start their study by 2016 involving women who are below 38 years old, have a healthy weight, and are in a long-term relationship. The participants should also have healthy ovaries that are able to produce eggs.
Unlike the womb transplant performed in Sweden, the wombs would be coming from brain-dead donors. The NHS Blood and Transplant would be working with the researchers to ensure that protocols are followed especially on informing the donors' families about the donations. Further details of the procedures are still being finalized, according to BBC News.
If the trial would be successful, the first U.K.-born babies from transplanted wombs would arrive as early as 2017.
"I've met many of the women who want this and it's really important for them and their partners. There is no doubting that, for many couples, childlessness is a disaster," Smith told The Independent.
"Infertility is a difficult thing to treat for these women. Surrogacy is an option, but it does not answer the deep desire that women have to carry their own baby. For a woman to carry her own baby - that has to be a wonderful thing."
The team has already received 300 applications from women who would like to be part of the clinical trial, and 104 of them are qualified. Each procedure would cost up to £50,000 ($75,600) which would be shouldered by the organization.
