Two Swedish women are carrying the wombs of their mothers after what doctors called the world's first mother-to-daughter uterus transplants.
Specialists at the University of Goteborg completed the surgery over the weekend without complications, but say they won't consider the procedures successful unless the women achieve pregnancy after their observation period ends a year from now.
"We are not going to call it a complete success until this results in children," said Michael Olausson, one of the Swedish surgeons told The Associated Press. "That's the best proof."
He said the daughters started in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, before the surgery.
IVF uses hormones to stimulate the ovaries, which the women already had, to produce eggs. Scientists would fertilize the eggs with sperm in a lab, before freezing the embryos. The frozen embryos would then be thawed and transferred if the women are in good health after the observation period, Olausson said. After a maximum of two pregnancies, the wombs will be removed again.
The university said one recipient had her uterus removed many years ago due to cervical cancer and the other was born without a uterus. Both women are in their 30s.
"Both patients that received new uteri are doing fine but are tired after surgery. The donating mothers are up and walking and will be discharged from the hospital within a few days," team leader Mats Brannstrom said in a statement.
