First-ever womb transplant in UK hailed as 'massive success' in fertility treatment

In the United Kingdom, doctors have performed the first-ever womb transplant, which has been hailed as a huge milestone and "massive success" in fertility treatment.

Local media outlets reported that a 40-year-old woman, who already had two children of her own, helped her 34-year-old sister. The younger sister, whose identity has not been revealed, had been born without a uterus.

Reports have mentioned that both have recovered well after the surgery. The younger sister (receiver of the womb) and her husband are now waiting for several embryos to be transferred.

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The procedures happened in February and were carried out by a team of 20 and lasted around 17 hours in adjoining operation theatres at the Churchill Hospital.

This was a first for the UK, but such operations have been successfully carried out globally as more than 90 womb transplants have been performed in nations such as Sweden, the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Germany, Serbia and India.

As quoted by The Guardian, the co-lead surgeon Isabel Quiroga, a consultant surgeon at the Oxford Transplant Centre, part of Oxford University hospitals, said that the patient is "incredibly happy".

She added: "She was absolutely over the moon, very happy and is hoping that she can go on to have not one but two babies. Her womb is functioning perfectly and we are monitoring her progress very closely."

As quoted by Sky News, professor Richard Smith, who was one of two lead surgeons, said it had been a "massive success". He described the joy he shared with the sisters during a clinic one month on.

He said: "We were all in tears - it was a very, very emotional. I think it was probably the most stressful week of our surgical careers, but also unbelievably positive. The donor and recipient are just over the moon."

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