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PETBioNewsNewsUK surgeons launch womb transplant charity

BioNews

UK surgeons launch womb transplant charity

Published 14 March 2013 posted in News and appears in BioNews 665

Author

Dr Vikki Burchell

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.

A charity has been launched to raise money for research that could allow the first womb transplants in the UK...

A charity has been launched to raise
money for research that could allow the first womb transplants in the UK.

Uterine Transplantation UK was set up
by a team of British surgeons who say they need £500,000 to finish testing the
procedure. Only after tests in animals have been completed will they be able
to apply for ethics permission to perform the surgery in patients.

Womb transplantation offers an
alternative to surrogacy or adoption for thousands of women who are either born
without a womb or have theirs removed due to birthing complications, cancer or
other diseases.

A previous attempt at this surgery in
2000 failed because of a problem in the blood supply to the transplanted uterus.
However, several improvements to the technique have been made and
last August a 21-year old woman in Turkey became the first successful recipient
of a womb transplant.

'We are confident, especially with a
transplant abroad being carried out with the same methodology that we have
recommended that within two years or so, given enough funding, we can begin
helping women in the UK', said Mr Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecologist
from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Lister Hospital.

Mr Smith says he has been approached
by 50 women who have or could have frozen embryos from IVF and who would like a
womb transplant.

However, the surgery would not be
without risk. The woman may be at increased risk of complications in
pregnancy, including miscarriage, and it is not yet clear whether there could
be adverse effects on the development of the implanted embryo. Like any transplant, the
recipient will also need to remain on immunosuppressant medication to prevent
rejection. To avoid long-term effects, the womb would need to be removed after
one or two pregnancies.

Womb transplantation is not a
life-saving operation, so some question whether such risks are justified. Professor
Lord Robert Winston has said previously that the risks are not worth taking and
some women may have to accept that, unless they adopt, they will never become mothers. 'There are some people
who are not going to have a child and sad though that is, that has to be seen',
he said.

Professor Charles Kingsland, spokesman
for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: 'Significant
concerns need to be addressed to everybody's satisfaction before we go ahead
and offer this as a viable option'.

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Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
17 January 2014 • 3 minutes read

Womb transplants successful for nine women

by Dr Rosie Morley

Nine women have received transplants of uteruses donated by their mothers or other living relatives in an ongoing trial of an experimental procedure at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
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17 May 2013 • 2 minutes read

Turkish womb transplant patient miscarries

by Dr Anna Cauldwell

Doctors have terminated the pregnancy of 22-year-old Derya Sert, the first woman to receive a womb transplant from a deceased donor....

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
15 April 2013 • 3 minutes read

Turkish donor womb recipient becomes pregnant

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

One of the first women to receive a womb transplant is pregnant, the treating hospital has disclosed. A spokesperson said that early test results were 'consistent' with signs of pregnancy....

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Comment
19 November 2012 • 3 minutes read

The ethics of womb donation and transplantation

by Dr Morven Shearer

Last month news broke of an experimental womb transplantation surgery planned for early next year. With it came the possibility of women with an absent or non-functioning uterus carrying a child to term (see Roberts, 2011)....

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
14 November 2012 • 2 minutes read

Mother to donate womb to her daughter

by MacKenna Roberts

A British woman has agreed to donate her womb to her daughter if selected for an experimental womb transplant surgery to be performed by doctors at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden....

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
24 September 2012 • 2 minutes read

World's first mother-to-daughter womb transplants

by Ruth Retassie

Two women in Sweden received uterus transplants from their mothers, with hopes it will allow them to conceive children of their own...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Successful womb transplants in sheep lead to pregnancy

by Heidi Nicholl

A Swedish team has successfully carried out womb transplants in sheep, leading to pregnancy. So far the researchers have worked on perfecting the technique of reconnecting the blood vessels and have removed and replaced the uterus in individual animals - known as autologous transplantation. The team removed and...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

New York surgeons announce plans for womb transplant

by Dr Antony Starza-Allen

Doctors based at the New York Downtown Hospital, have been given the go-ahead to begin screening women to undergo the first womb transplant in the US. The procedure will involve the removal and transferral of a uterus from a dead donor to a female recipient. After waiting...

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