Womb transplants could soon be possible

LONDON, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Researchers in London say they have developed a womb-transplant technique that could be made available to the public within two years.

The researchers, working alongside teams in New York and Budapest, developed a procedure to transplant a womb with a reliable blood supply into women who were born without uteruses or were forced by illness to undergo emergency hysterectomies, The Times of London reported Tuesday.

The researchers said the womb would be temporary, allowing the recipient of the transplant two or three years to conceive and carry children before the organ has to be removed.

"By getting to a place where we seem to have a reliable method of giving the uterus a blood supply, that takes us a whole heap closer to being able to provide this for humans," said Richard Smith, a consultant gynecologist at London's Hammersmith Hospital.

Smith said he believes the process soon will be available to the public.

"I think that two years probably is realistic," he said.