Churchill hospital carries-out first successful womb transplant in UK

Oxford Transplant Centre surgeons have reportedly carried out a successful first womb transplant at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, United Kingdom. 

According to The Guardian on Wednesday, the unidentified 34-year-old married recipient from England underwent a nine-hour and 20-minute transplant procedure to receive her sister’s uterus in an operation in February at Churchill Hospital in Oxford and she was well enough to leave the hospital after 10 days.

The recipient was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome, which is a rare congenital reproductive disorder that affects one in 5,000 women. Sufferers of this syndrome have an underdeveloped vagina and/or missing womb.

The recipient’s 40-year-old sister was the living womb donor as she already had two children of her own before donating her womb. 

The co-lead surgeon Isabel Quiroga, a consultant surgeon at the Oxford Transplant Centre, part of Oxford University hospitals, said she was “thrilled” and “extremely proud” the surgery had been a success.