Chinese hospital to carry out uterus transplants in clinical trial
- Married women aged 18 to 40 with uterine infertility will receive donated wombs in study aiming to help them have their own children
- Professor says the technology is new ‘but the potential is noteworthy in the context of an ageing population and low fertility rate’
Women who are unable to carry a pregnancy will receive donated wombs as part of a clinical trial on uterus transplants at a Shanghai hospital.
For the trial, the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital of Fudan University said it would recruit married women, aged between 18 and 40, who have what is known as uterine factor infertility.
That means women who do not have a womb – either because they were born without one or it was surgically removed – or whose uterus does not function properly.
“We hope we can help more women with uterine infertility to have their own children through uterus transplants,” Hua Keqin, a professor at the hospital and its Communist Party secretary, told news site The Paper on Friday.
She did not give details of when the trial would be conducted or how many women would take part.