US hospital becomes the first to offer womb transplants

 

For the first time, infertile women in the US will have access to pioneering womb transplant surgery.

A leading hospital is preparing to offer the new procedure, which has proved successful in Sweden.

The Cleveland Clinic said it will be the first hospital in the US to offer uterine transplants, to 10 women.

The clinical trial, which will begin in the next few months, is open to women of childbearing age who are unable to become pregnant.

But, stipulations apply.

The women must have been rendered infertile for one of three reasons: that they were born without a uterus, have lost their uterus, or have a uterus that no longer functions, the hospital said.

HOW DO DOCTORS CARRY OUT A WOMB TRANSPLANT?

The first step involves doctors removing some of the patients' eggs in order to fertilise them in a dish to create embryos.

These are then frozen, until they are needed.

Secondly, a womb, complete with two major arteries and four veins, removed from a from donor in a three-hour operation.

The donated womb is then implanted into the patient during an operation that typically takes around six hours.

The woman is then, as all organ tranplant patients are, prescribed powerful immunosuppressant drugs to stop the transplanted womb being rejected by the body.

Around a year later, when doctors are confident the transplant is a success, one of the embryos is thawed and implanted into the donated womb.

If the pregnancy is a succes, doctors ultimately deliver the baby via C-section.

Once a woman has successfully carried one or two babies, the transplanted organ is then removed.