World’s First: Mothers’ wombs transplanted to daughters so they can give birth
Isn’t this one amazing gift a mum can give her daughter? Two women have given birth using wombs donated by their own mothers. The pair become the first ever to have children using the very womb that brought them into the world a generation earlier.
Daily Mail Uk reports:
The breakthrough brings hope to the 15,000 British women who want children but were born without a womb or have had it removed.
The two mothers are among nine women to have been given womb transplants – seven of which have succeeded.
Allan Pacey of the British Fertility Society said: ‘That’s a very good success rate for a new surgical procedure. If it carries on like this, it may have a massive impact on things like surrogacy. Women would much prefer to have their own baby and be pregnant than watch another woman be pregnant.’
The babies – both boys – were born a month ago in Sweden and are doing well with their mothers at home.
Henrik Hagberg, a professor in foetal medicine at King’s College London, who was at the first birth, praised the grandmothers who had hysterectomies to donate wombs to their daughters.
‘It is an absolutely extraordinary gift. It is probably the best thing you can do for your daughter. The mothers were still very much doubting whether things would really go well. You don’t take anything for granted when you have experienced all of the problems they have been through,’ he said.
The first child, who weighed 5lb 8oz, was born to a 29-year-old Swede who lacked a womb at birth.
The mother of the second boy, who weighed in at 5lb 15oz, is 34 and had her womb removed when she was treated for cancer in her 20s.
Both babies were delivered by Caesarean section around a month early. They join another history-making boy, named Vincent. Born in September as part of the Gothenburg University project, he was the first in the world to be born from a womb transplant.
Four of the seven women with successful transplants have become pregnant and three have had babies.
Richard Smith, head of the charity Womb Transplant UK, is gearing up to start similar operations here, using wombs from dead donors.
He says the first could be carried out as soon as next summer.
Professor Hagberg believes the operation in which the donor’s womb is removed can be reduced from the current ten hours – making the procedure more attractive.
‘I’m an optimist. I’m sure this is something for the future,’ he said. ‘It looks rather promising. It will be very exciting to see what happens in Britain and what they will be able to do using wombs from brain-dead donors.’
Professor Mats Brännström, who led the Swedish team, has spent 15 years perfecting the complex surgical techniques needed for transplant.
He believes Mr Smith’s project will be successful and predicts the first British womb transplant baby will be born three years from now.
Dagan Wells, an Oxford University fertility doctor, said: ‘The numbers are still small and we probably don’t have a good handle on the true safety or how often it will be successful. But from the data available, we can say that it is looking pretty good. That could raise the possibility of wider application – there are significant numbers of women in the population who would have perfect fertility if it was not for a problem with their womb.’
Dr Wells added: ‘It is a pretty radical thing to undergo but the fact that some women have done it, even when it is in this experimental phase, really does emphasise how important it is for some women to carry their own child. I am not saying that this is the way that everyone should go but for some people, it clearly is very important.’
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Message..awww mothers love
Wow! This is great
Hmmm! This is wonderful. God has indeed blessed humanity with numerous gifts.
Cool Technology.
Amazing!
Wow this us great news. More hope for a lot of women