Swedish medical team hoping for world first as women born without uterus or who lost it to cancer get embryo transfers 
 
 Four of nine women given pioneering womb transplants in Sweden have now also had embryos transferred, the pioneering Swedish doctor treating them has said. 
 
 Dr Mats Brannstrom, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Gothenburg University, said his team had embarked on a programme of embryo transfer for the women, who were either born without a womb or lost it as a result of cancer. All have ovaries so were able to produce eggs that were fertilised using IVF. 
 
 Brannstrom predicted that three or four of the nine women might succeed in giving birth, which would be a world first. Other womb transplants have taken place in Saudi Arabia and Turkey but no recipients have yet managed to have a child. A pregnancy was achieved in Turkey, but it failed after two months. 
 
 "We have already begun transferring embryos into four of the women and plan to make attempts with the others when they are ready," said Brannstrom. He would not say whether any of the women were pregnant at the moment. In a study published last week, the team said that there were "mild rejection episodes" in four women who received donated wombs. Two patients had to have the uterus removed because of complications. 
 
 Brannstrom's technique is controversial because he is accepting wombs donated by living women, who are relatives or friends of his patients. Elsewhere, wombs from dead donors have been used. 
 
 Dr Richard Smith, head of the UK charity Womb Transplant UK, which is trying to raise money to carry out transplants here, has said that large chunks of blood vessels had to be removed from the donor as well as the uterus itself, raising the risks of the operation for the donor. In the UK, there would be ethical questions because the operation is not a life-saving procedure, he said. 
 
 The women will have to take drugs throughout their pregnancy to ensure their body does not reject the organ. They will also have to be watched carefully for how the womb progresses throughout pregnancy. 
 
 Dr Charles Kingsland, a spokesman for Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "There are questions about how the physiological changes in the uterus will affect the mother and whether the transplanted uterus will be conducive to a growing baby." 
 
 Brannstrom said the transplanted wombs would be removed after a maximum of two pregnancies. ||||| LONDON (AP) — A Swedish doctor says four women who received transplanted wombs have had embryos transferred into them in an attempt to get pregnant. 
 
 FILE - In this April 4, 2012 photo made available by the University of Goteborg in Sweden, the Swedish research team practices before the operations to transplant wombs at the Sahlgrenska Hospital in... (Associated Press) 
 
 He would not say on Monday whether any of the women had succeeded. In all, nine women in Sweden have received new wombs since 2012, but two had to have them removed because of complications. 
 
 The women received wombs donated by their mothers or other close relatives in an experimental procedure designed to test whether it's possible to transfer a uterus so a woman can give birth to her own biological child. The women had in vitro fertilization before the transplants, using their own eggs to make embryos. 
 
 "We have already begun transferring embryos into four of the women and plan to make attempts with the others when they are ready," said Dr. Mats Brannstrom, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Goteburg, who is leading the research. 
 
 Brannstrom predicted that three or four of the seven women might successfully give birth. 
 
 "One or two more will perhaps get pregnant and miscarry, and one or two won't be able to get pregnant," he said. 
 
 There have been two previous attempts to transplant a womb — in Turkey and Saudi Arabia — but both failed to produce babies. Doctors in Britain and Hungary also are planning similar operations, but using wombs from women who had just died. 
 
 Brannstrom said any woman in the study who does get pregnant will be on a low dose of drugs to keep from rejecting the transplanted womb and will be monitored as a high-risk pregnancy. 
 
 The transplants are intended to benefit women unable to have children because they lost a uterus to cancer or were born without one. 
 
 Some doctors said women who got pregnant with a new uterus would have to be watched carefully for how the womb progresses throughout pregnancy. 
 
 "There are questions about how the physiological changes in the uterus will affect the mother and whether the transplanted uterus will be conducive to a growing baby," said Dr. Charles Kingsland, a spokesman for Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and a gynecologist at Liverpool Women's Hospital. 
 
 In a study published last week, Brannstrom and colleagues described the procedures used to transplant the nine wombs and said there were "mild rejection episodes" in four patients. 
 
 He said the transplanted wombs would be removed after a maximum of two pregnancies. 
 
 Other experts called it a promising step but said it would be crucial that babies get enough nutrients from the mother's blood supply. 
 
 "We really don't know if the blood flow to the uterus will increase and adapt in the same way," as in a regular pregnancy, said Dr. Yacoub Khalaf, director of the Assisted Conception unit at Guy's and St. Thomas' hospital in London. 
 
 "It is a good sign they have done the (embryo) transfers," Khalaf said. "But a live birth will be the best validation that this works." ||||| Woman 'to become first in the world to give birth to a baby from a transplanted womb' after doctors successfully implant embryo 
 
 Woman suffers from MRKH syndrome - a congenital disorder which prevents the womb from developing, but doesn't impact the ovaries 
 
 
 
 She was one of nine women to undergo a womb transplant in Sweden 
 
 
 
 Doctors have transferred an embryo grown from her own egg to her womb 
 
 She will have to wait to see if the embryo embeds in the uterine wall to find out whether she is in fact pregnant 
 
 If she carries to term, she will be the first womb transplant patient in the world to give birth to a baby 
 
 
 
 Another womb transplant patient lost her baby during pregnancy last year 
 
 A women is set to become the first in the world to give birth from a transplanted womb after doctors successfully implanted an embryo into her body. 
 
 
 
 The unnamed woman, who was born without a womb, was one of nine to receive a womb transplant in Sweden between September 2012 and April last year. 
 
 
 
 It is now hoped she will become the first in the world to successfully give birth following the procedure after doctors managed to transfer an embryo grown from the woman's own egg last week. 
 
 
 
 This means any child she has through IVF would genetically be her own. 
 
 New hope: An unnamed woman may now become the first in the world to give birth to a womb transplant baby after doctors successfully transferred an embryo into her body. Image shows Sweden's University of Gothenburg team practising how to carry out the womb transplant operation ahead of the procedure 
 
 
 
 And as her transplanted womb was transferred by her mother, her baby would also be the first in the world to be born from the same womb as their mother. 
 
 
 
 Dr Mats Brannstrom, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg, who led the transplant team, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'The best scenario is a baby in nine months. 
 
 
 
 The woman was one of nine to undergo womb transplants in Sweden between September 2012 and April last year. Picture shows the Swedish surgical team practising the transplant operation 
 
 'A success would be an important proof of principle that a procedure is now available to cure uterine infertility.' 
 
 
 
 The woman suffers from MRKH syndrome, a congenital disorder which prevents the womb from developing, but means she still has intact ovaries which produce eggs. 
 
 
 
 This meant her egg could be fertilised outside of her body and the embryo then placed in her womb. 
 
 
 
 But the woman will have to wait and see if the embryo successfully embeds in her uterine wall before she will know if she is in fact pregnant. 
 
 
 
 Dr Brannstrom admits it's impossible to estimate the chance of success. 
 
 
 
 He told the newspaper: 'We know the pregnancy rate in the normal population − the chance for one embryo would be about 25 per cent − so it may take some trials until we get a pregnancy, or we may be lucky and get a pregnancy first time. We don’t know.' 
 
 
 
 Seven of the other transplant patients also suffered from this condition while the ninth had her womb removed after suffering cervical cancer. 
 
 
 
 The development will give hope to thousands of childless women across Europe and at least 15,000 in the UK. 
 
 
 
 The method has been controversial though because it involves taking wombs from living donors. The Swedish team favours it because the organs are generally in better condition and a better immunological match. 
 
 
 
 Other surgeons in the same field do not believe it is right to put a living donor through such a major operation when it is not life-saving. 
 
 
 
 Procedure: Doctors grew an embryo from the woman's own egg before implanting it in her transplanted womb as it is not connected to her fallopian tubes 
 
 They say the best option is to use an organ from a dead donor. This allows them to transplant extra tissue and the major blood vessels needed to take the strain of pregnancy. 
 
 
 
 Richard Smith, head of Womb Transplant UK, said earlier this month that the charity is ready to give five British women wombs from dead donors, subject to receiving ethical clearance and raising the £500,000 required to cover the cost of surgery. ‘We are good to go, save for the fact we haven’t got any money,’ he said. 
 
 Derya Sert, pictured, from Turkey, had a transplant in August 2011 and subsequently conceived but she miscarried after eight weeks of pregnancy 
 
 Mr Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon, described the Swedish breakthrough as ‘amazing’ and said a successful birth would bolster similar projects around the world. 
 
 
 
 Any babies the Swedish women bear are likely to be delivered by caesarean section and the new wombs will be removed after only one or two pregnancies. 
 
 The women are on powerful immunosuppressant drugs but the biggest worry is how well a transplanted womb will cope with the strains of pregnancy, during which the womb swells from the size of a pear to that of a melon. 
 
 Critics question the process, with fertility expert Lord Winston saying the risks are too great and some women should accept that they will never bear children. 
 
 
 
 Those in favour say it is the only way for some women to fulfil their deep-seated yearning to have a baby. 
 
 
 
 Experts say the operations will only be considered a success on the birth of a healthy baby. 
 
 
 
 Dr Yacoub Khalaf, medical director of the Assisted Conception unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in London, said: ‘What remains to be seen is whether this is a viable option or if this is going to be confined to research and limited experimentation.’ 
 
 
 
 The world’s first womb transplant took place in Saudi Arabia in 2000. However, the woman’s body rejected the donated organ after four months. 
 
 
 
 Turkish doctors performed a successful transplant in 2011, but patient Derya Sert lost her baby during pregnancy last year.
– Swedish doctors are advancing in their quest to implant embryos in women who have received pioneering womb implants, the Guardian reports. A medical team in Gothenburg has successfully transferred embryos to four of nine women with implants, a major advance after transferring just one embryo in January. Mats Brannstrom, who leads the team, wouldn't say if any of the women are pregnant, and a study by the group said four women experienced "mild rejection episodes"; in fact, two had their uterus removed due to complications. "One or two more will perhaps get pregnant and miscarry, and one or two won't be able to get pregnant," said Brannstrom, the AP reports. Other doctors say the women must be carefully watched to see how well a transplanted uterus functions. "It is a good sign they have done the transfers," said a doctor. "But a live birth will be the best validation that this works." Controversy has surrounded the Swedish project because it accepted wombs from live women who are friends or family of the patients, creating possible health risks for the donors. Two other womb transplant attempts, in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, failed to produce a child; only the Turkish donation was from a dead donor.