Nine women in Sweden have successfully received womb transplants and will try to become pregnant.
The transplants began in September 2012 and all transplants were from mothers and other female relatives. There were initially ten women who were receiving transplants, but one woman could not proceed due to medical reasons.
All of the women, according to the Associated Press, were either born with no uterus or lost their uterus due to cervical cancer. This will be the first major experiment that will test whether a transplanted womb will carry a child.
Necessary organ transplants, such as hearts and kidneys, have been done for decades, but womb transplants will change the patient’s quality of life-hopefully by allowing child birth.
Two womb transplants have been made before these in Sweden, but they were unsuccessful in carrying a child.
“This is a new kind of surgery,” Dr. Mats Brannstrom said. “We have no textbook to look at.” One woman had an infection and a few others had small rejection issues, but according to the Daily Mail, none of the recipients have needed extensive care after the surgery.