Hundreds of young women with cancer could benefit from womb transplants on the NHS in future in a “new era” of fertility treatment, charities say.
Surgeons announced they had performed the UK’s first womb transplant, after a woman donated hers to her 34-year-old younger sister.
The “medical milestone” paves the way for transplants to serve as an alternative to surrogacy or adoption. Women who have lost their womb due to illnesses such as cancer could carry their own babies and start families.
Hysterectomies, the surgical removal of the womb, are the most common treatment for womb cancer, a condition impacting 9,700 UK women annually. Among these, a quarter are premenopausal and could otherwise have had children.
Athena Lamnisos, CEO of the Eve Appeal charity for