The doctors who performed the surgery said it was a “massive success”.
A 34-year-old woman in Oxford received the womb from her 40-year-old sister in the first such transplant in the UK. According to the BBC, both the women recovered well from the surgery and the younger sister plans to have IVF this year using embryos that she and her husband have in storage. The sisters have chosen to remain anonymous. The surgery was carried out by a team of 20 doctors and lasted for 17 hours, the outlet further said in its report.
Gynaecological surgeon Prof Richard Smith told the BBC it was a “massive success”.
“The whole thing was emotional. I think we were all a bit tearful afterwards,” he added.
Transplant surgeon Isabel Quiroga, who led the team implanting the womb, said the recipient was “incredibly happy” and “over the moon” with the success of the surgery.
As per a report in The Guardian, the 34-year-old woman was born with a rare condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome (MRKH), due to which her womb was underdeveloped. It affects one if every 5,000 women.
However, the ovaries of these women perform functions normally and able to produce and female hormones, making conceiving via fertility treatment a possibility.
A second womb transplant on another woman is scheduled to take place next month in the UK, and more patients are in the preparation stages, the outlet further said.
More than 90 womb transplants have been carried out internationally, including in Sweden, the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, Czech Republic, Brazil, Germany, Serbia and India. About 50 babies have been born as a result.