A woman who received a womb transplant is expecting her second child, a medical conference in England has heard.
Swedish Professor Mats Brannstrom, who led the surgery in 2014, told attendees at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists meeting in Birmingham.
UK doctors have also been given permission to carry out Britain’s first 10 womb transplants, which come from donors who are brain dead but still have circulation.
Richard Smith, who leads the UK Uterine Transplant Research Programme congratulated the Swedish team on their success, saying: “Mats Brannstrom and his team have achieved a very important proof of concept.
“Absolute uterine infertility is a huge and growing problem affecting tens of thousands of women in this country – and the success of the Swedish team shows that at least some of these women will be able to bear their own child where before there was no hope.”
The chosen women, who were either born without a womb or had it removed due to serious disease or illness, will then hopefully be able to have a child that is genetically theirs while also experiencing the joy of pregnancy.
To date there has not been a womb transplant performed here in New Zealand, though as techniques around the world take off – this could herald the way.
***Watch: Does your foetus get bored?
