US doctors plan womb transplant

**Maggy J** · 17-01-2007, 14:32

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6269791.stm

I'm in two minds about this.

Yes I can see the benefits but with the stories one hears about forced organ transplants,organs for sale and the few cases where people have been assaulted for their organs I'm rather worried how many poverty stricken young girls in the developing and under developed countries will be targetted by the unscrupulous.

Salu · 17-01-2007, 16:15

If you are seriously considering giving your womb to another woman when you die, you could be said to have a "womb with a view....."

Seriously though I think this will come. Ethically it's contentious but the drive to improve conception will progress this I feel.

orangebird · 17-01-2007, 16:54

I think it's incredible. In a good way. Look at the way other organ transplants have given people a new way/lease/look at life. Modern medicine is a complete marvel.

**Maggy J** · 17-01-2007, 20:46

The thing is I understand about heart,liver,kidney,lung transplants..they are a life and death issue.But wombs? Is the desire to procreate more important than the need to live?Is the heartfelt need to bear owns own young more important than someone's life? With the ever increasing demands on the NHS and it's funds can it be justified for us here in the UK?

I'm also left wondering if any womb will do.With a womb from a menopausal woman do?Or will only young wombs do?You see I don't mind donating my womb now I'm done with it.

orangebird · 18-01-2007, 10:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Incognitas

The thing is I understand about heart,liver,kidney,lung transplants..they are a life and death issue.But wombs? Is the desire to procreate more important than the need to live?Is the heartfelt need to bear owns own young more important than someone's life? With the ever increasing demands on the NHS and it's funds can it be justified for us here in the UK?

I don't think anyone can answer that unless they've had to face the devestating reality that is infertility.

Quote:

I'm also left wondering if any womb will do.With a womb from a menopausal woman do?Or will only young wombs do?You see I don't mind donating my womb now I'm done with it.

Tinky · 26-01-2007, 18:52

If I had been told I couldn't have a family, I would explore every avenue, and would move heaven and earth to achieve a result, including a womb transplant. I would endure any pain known to man, in order to achieve a positive result. Thankfully I am thrice blessed so no need, but there are many women out there with this dilemma. We hear day and daily about couples who spend thousands of pounds in order to achieve this end, only to end in hearthbreak, they are the ones who will grasp at any 'new' methods, in the hope that one day they will be parents, they don't give up bless them! Every day modern science brings new hope! We are living in a wonderful age of discovery!

albert_the_dog · 26-01-2007, 21:28

Would this transplant also include the fallopian tubes ? As with other transplants the rejections chances are quite high and drugs are taken to stop the rejection. Would this also interfere with the ova attaching to the womb to develop.

another point would the ova be rejected as they would be the donors dna and not the recipients?

homealone · 26-01-2007, 22:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by albert_the_dog

Would this transplant also include the fallopian tubes ? As with other transplants the rejections chances are quite high and drugs are taken to stop the rejection. Would this also interfere with the ova attaching to the womb to develop.

another point would the ova be rejected as they would be the donors dna and not the recipients?

for the first question, ideally, yes - a natural egg from the ovary is preferred, delivered in a 'normal' way, via a fallopian tube, after that, it is up to how that 'embryo' develops - imo

Anonymouse · 26-01-2007, 22:59

Even with compatible tissues, you still need immunosuppressive drugs for a while, to let things settle in, as it were; any organ transplant is a major shock to the body's immune system no matter how closely the tissues match.

But I honestly can't see that donating a womb is any different in principle to donating any other organ. People carry donor cards with the intent of donating in the event of their early death. When my mum died, we were asked if the hospital could take corneal and other eye tissues, even though she wasn't a registered donor. We decided she'd have liked that idea, and by now at least two people have had their lives immeasurably improved because they've been helped with their defective vision. The joke, which I know she'd have appreciated, is that she'd been wearing glasses for the best part of 60 years!

Not all transplants are done in order to save lives; many are just in order to improve quality of life - kidney transplants for people on dialysis, for example, or skin grafts for burn victims. You can do without the transplant in such cases, but ask yourselves: would you?

Mum firmly believed that kids go a long way towards improving a couple's quality of life, and being the eldest of five who went on to have three of her own, she would know. So if there's a new option for couples who want to improve things by having kids, I think they should go for it.