Surgeons from Sweden’s University of Gothenburg recently completed the first womb transplants which used uteruses donated by the mothers of the recipients.
Two Swedish women, aged 32 and 37, received their mother’s wombs in the hopes of becoming able to receive children. One of the recipients had a hysterectomy due to cervical cancer, while the other was born without a womb. Women stop producing eggs around age 50, but their wombs can be viable to the age of 60. The mothers who donated their wombs were in their 50s and 60s.
The procedure marks a breakthrough because doctors believe that a patient’s body is far less likely to reject a transplanted organ when it is donated by a close genetic relative. While the transplantations were deemed successful, doctors stressed that the procedure as a whole will not be declared a complete success until the women prove able to bear healthy children.
The two recipients in the transplant operation will have to wait at least one year before undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Source: Daily Mail