UK womb transplants given green light

Womb transplant operations are to be carried out among UK patients as part of a newly-greenlit research programme.

The UK Womb Transplant Research team has been granted ethical permission to begin an expanded series of ten transplant operations, which will be open to women in a long-term relationship who have normally functioning ovaries and their own eggs.

It comes after the procedure proved successful in Sweden, where a woman became the first in the world to give birth to a baby after having a womb transplant last year.

The UK research team have received hundreds of requests from infertile women in recent years and currently has 104 women who meet the basic requirements for potential inclusion on the programme.

Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecologist at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London, said: "This operation is clearly a viable option for those women who otherwise have absolutely no chance of carrying their own baby."

However, the team still needs to raise around half a million pounds to cover the costs of NHS services and complete the programme.