'It was incredible': UK’s first womb transplant ‘massive success’ after woman donates organ to childless sister

A woman has been given a womb by her older sister in the UK’s first womb transplant.

The 34-year-old married woman received the organ – also called the uterus – during an operation lasting nine hours and 20 minutes at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, which is part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Her sister, 40, has completed her own family by giving birth to two children, and was willing to donate her womb. The recipient, who lives in England and does not wish to be named, has stored embryos with the aim of undergoing IVF later this year.

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The medical staff behind the op were not paid for their time and the transplant cost of around £25,000 was paid for by donations to the Womb Transplant UK charity.

The lead surgeons for the transplant, which took place on a Sunday in early February, were Professor Richard Smith, clinical lead at the charity Womb Transplant UK and consultant gynaecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and Isabel Quiroga, consultant surgeon at the Oxford Transplant Centre, part of Oxford University Hospitals.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Prof Smith said the experience had been 'quite remarkable', adding that the operation had been a 'massive success'.

He added: "It was incredible. I think it was probably the most stressful week in my surgical career but also unbelievably positive. The donor and recipient are over the moon, just over the moon.

"I’m just really happy that we’ve got a donor who is completely back to normal after her big op and the recipient is, after her big op, doing really well on her immunosuppressive therapy and looking forward to hopefully having a