Woman set to give birth from her own mother's womb after world-first transplant

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Last updated at 12:49 PM on 13th June 2011

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A young biology teacher is preparing to have her mother's womb transplanted into her - in the hope she can have a baby, carrying it in the same womb that carried her.

Sara Ottosson, 25, was born without reproductive organs. 

But her mother, Eva Ottosson, 56, a Nottingham-based businesswoman, has agreed to take part in the groundbreaking procedure - becoming the first woman in the world to transplant her womb into her daughter.

Eva Ottoson says: 'My daughter and I are both very rational people and we both think it's just a womb'

Miss Ottosson, who lives and works in Stockholm, told the Daily Telegraph she was unconcerned about the implications of receiving the womb that carried her.

She said: 'I haven't really thought about that.

'I'm a biology teacher and it's just an organ like any other organ.

 

'But my mum did ask me about this.

'She said, "Isn't it weird?"

'And my answer is no.

'I'm more worried that my mum is going to have a big operation.'

Sara added: 'It would mean the world to me for this to work and to have children.

'At the moment, I am trying not to get my hopes up so that I am not disappointed.'

Gift of life: Sahlgrenska University Hospital where the transplant will take place

The pair hope the complex transplant could happen in Sweden next spring - where Gothenburg doctors have been assessing suitable patients for the surgery.

The Ottossons have gone through the testing process and are waiting to hear if they have been selected for the operation.

If the procedure works, Miss Ottosson will have her own eggs fertilised using her boyfriend's sperm and then implanted into the womb.

Her mother, who runs a lighting business in Nottingham, added: 'My daughter and I are both very rational people and we both think it's just a womb.

WOMB TRANSPLANT: The process for Eva and Sara

• Doctors will remove Eva's womb in a four-hour procedure (similar to a hysterectomy).
• The organ is then transplanted into Sara.
• Sara will need to take strong medication to ensure her body does not reject the organ.
• If the womb is functioning properly after a year, the recipient can have her own eggs fertilised using IVF.
• Fertilised eggs are implanted in Sara's womb.
• The baby is delivered by caesarean at full term.
• When Sara no longer has a use for the womb, it will be removed.

'She needs the womb and if I'm the best donor for her, well, go on.

'She needs it more than me.

'I've had two daughters so it's served me well.'

Dr Mats Brannstrom, who leads the medical team, said the transplant is one of the most complicated operations in modern medicine.

The surgery is more difficult than transplanting a kidney, liver or heart because it is more difficult to avoid haemorrhages and you have to make sure the blood vessels are long enough to connect the womb.

He also describes operating in the restricted pelvis area as 'like working in a funnel'.

The only previous womb transplant occurred in 2000 in Saudi Arabia.

A womb from a 46-year-old was given to a 26-year-old who had lost her uterus because of a haemorrhage, but it had to be removed 99 days later because of complications.

Sara suffers from Mayer Rokitanksy Kuster Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a condition that affects around 1 in 5,000 people and meant that she was born without a uterus. 

Like most sufferers, she only realised she had the condition when she was a teenager.

If Sara and her mother are not selected for the transplant procedure, she plans to adopt children instead.

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source:.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2002938/Sara-Ottosson-Womb-transplant-mother-offer-25-year-old-chance-baby.html#ixzz1PA9FHagK