• The objective of our research is to establish whether Womb Transplants are a viable form of fertility treatment for the NHS for women suffering from absolute uterine infertility.

• The UK Womb Transplant Team have permissions for two programmes:
  • 5 patients with live related donors
  • 10 patients seeking donated wombs  from deceased donors

• All patients are UK residents, eligible for NHS Care and are between the ages of 24 and 40 (or 42 if embryos have been cryopreserved before the age of 38)

• All patients will have at least five healthy embryos cryopreserved awaiting implantation

• The operation to retrieve a womb takes between 6-8 hours with a team of up to 5 surgeons

• The operation to transplant a womb takes between 6-8 hours with a team of up to 5 surgeons

• Patients receiving a womb may stay under close observation is hospital for up to two weeks after their operation

• Immuno-suppression medicine is given to patients immediately following the transplant and very closely monitored post operatively

• Live donors have a three to five day hospital stay

• Transplant patients receive close monitoring initially with twice weekly then weekly follow up for several months and if their womb is functioning normally, will have an embryo implanted from 6 months post op.

• Once a patient is pregnant, close monitoring of the patient and foetus continues.

• At 37 weeks the baby is delivered by Caesarean Section

• If all is well the patient can choose for try for a second child or to have her transplanted womb removed

• After having a second child, the transplanted womb is removed (hysterectomy) and the patient stops taking immunosuppression medicine.