Womb transplants tantalizingly close
Filed under: Infertility — Alan @ 11:51 am
British doctors claim that they are close to succeeding with the first ever womb transplant, but the question remains how desirable the procedure would actually be.
This is not the first time that a doctor has claimed a womb transplant is possible, but it is the first time that a doctor has announced they have found a solution to securing the blood supply required.
London Hammersmith Hospital doctor Richard Smith is now looking for additional funding so that he can continue his research after failing to receive grants from the largest bodies in Britain.
The womb transplants would mainly benefit woman who are born without a womb and are thus unable to have their own children, and those whose wombs were destroyed at the hands of fibroid or cancer treatment.
At the crux of the medical research is the long standing debate of whether infertility is an actual disease, or if it is a cultural phenomenon from a society that values women by their ability or inability to reproduce.
Those that balk at the definition of infertility as a disease do so because infertility, unlike many other accepted diseases, is not fatal, and the idea of major surgery without medical cause makes many scientists wary.
The only time in the past that a womb transplant was attempted was in Saudi Arabia in 2000, when doctors transplanted a live donor womb to a young woman. Although initially it was thought to be a successful implant, lack of oxygen in the blood resulted in the removal of the womb.
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