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Womb transplants may become a reality in as little as 2 years

A transplant would allow women without a womb to bear a child

Womb transplants could potentially help women who were born without a womb or who suffered uterine damage have a baby.

Nearly 15,000 women in the U.K. currently have either been born without a uterus or have had it removed due to a disease like cancer. However, new research into the process of transplanting a womb into rabbits may carry over to human research in as little as two years.

Dr. Richard Smith of London’s Hammersmith Hospital recently presented his latest research at an Atlanta reproduction summit. Dr. Smith hopes—with more funding and animal research—to be able to successfully transplant a womb into a human patient.

Smith and his team performed the transplantation on five donor rabbits and five recipients. Using a special “vascular patch technique”, the team attached the new wombs to the recipients.

The new technique had to be implemented as previous attempts failed due to blood clots or unsuccessful aortal attachment. Of the five rabbits, two of them lived for up to 10 months. After the rabbits died, the team examined the rabbits and found that the surgery was successful, although the rabbits were not able to become pregnant after being mated. Dr. Smith said that additional research needed to be done with fertilized embryos implanted in the rabbits’ wombs.

However, funding has been difficult to come by according to Smith. The group has set up a charity called “Uterine Transplant U.K.” to raise £250,000 for additional research.

“With appropriate funding we could run through all the tests needed to get this into humans within two years,” stated Smith.

“Nobody should move this into a human setting until this procedure has been made as safe as possible. You could never in all conscience carry off this procedure if there was a chance of death or disability.”

Other doctors are skeptical of the two-year target set by Smith’s team.

“I think there is a big difference between demonstrating effectiveness in a rabbit and being able to do this in a larger animal or a human,” said Tony Rutherford, the chairman of the British Fertility Society.

“I don’t think it is something that is going to be available in clinical practice for some years to come.”

A womb transplant was tried once before on a woman by Saudi Arabian doctors in 2000, but the womb had to be removed after only four months due to blood supply failure.

         

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Alcohol reduces effectiveness of IVF for having a baby

Alcohol intake of even small amounts decreases the likelihood of pregnancy says a new Harvard medical study.

A new Harvard study of over 2,500 couples—quizzing them on their drinking habits before beginning IVF treatments—has shown that even small quantities of alcohol disrupt the effectiveness of the treatments.

Dr. Brooke Rossi led the study for the Harvard team, and after reviewing the data, the team found that both men and women that drank six or more units of alcohol a week “significantly reduced their likelihood of pregnancy.”

The study found that men who drank six or more units of alcohol a week reduced the effectiveness of IVF treatment by 14 percent while women who drank the same amount reduced their chance at motherhood by 18 percent.

“In general, women are told they should stop drinking when they are trying to achieve pregnancy,” Rossi said.

Dr. Rossi also reported that particularly strong effects were noted when women drank white wine and men drank beer. Women who drank one to nine units of white wine a week had a 23 percent increased chance of embryo implantation failure. Men who drank one beer on a daily basis contributed a 38 percent increased chance of embryo implantation failure.

Both the British Fertility Society and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence already have developed guidelines directing women to discontinue alcohol use throughout the pregnancy.

“The link between alcohol and conception is an area where the evidence is not clear-cut. It may well be that couples who are already subfertile are more affected by alcohol that those who are perfectly fertile,” said Tony Rutherford, chairman of the British Fertility Society.

“If you are going to have IVF, my recommendation would be that it makes sense to avoid alcohol all together, from three months beforehand. This is further evidence to suggest that alcohol does have an impact and that those women who try for a baby should think about their lifestyle choices.”

“Eggs and sperm take at least three months to develop so women have got to stop smoking, reduce alcohol consumption or, if you are overweight, correct that weight, that far ahead if you want to maximize your chances of conception.”