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 Women who have had their appendix or tonsils removed appear to be more fertile, a 15-year study suggests. 
 
 The researchers, at the University of Dundee, analysed medical records from more than half a million British women. 
 
 They argue the operations could directly affect fertility or there may be a "behavioural" explanation. 
 
 Experts said the findings might lead to new treatments, but advised women not to have their tonsils and appendix taken out unnecessarily. 
 
 The study found that for every 100 pregnancies in women who had had no procedures there were: 
 
 134 pregnancies in women who had had their appendix removed 
 
 149 pregnancies in women who had had their tonsils removed 
 
 and 143 pregnancies in women who had had both removed 
 
 One of the researchers, Dr Sami Shimi, said most doctors were wrongly taught that having an appendix removed damaged fertility. 
 
 'Reassuring' 
 
 He told BBC News: "This [study] is very important in reassuring young women that appendicectomy will not reduce their chances of future pregnancy. 
 
 "More importantly, looking at both the appendix and tonsils together, this study confirms beyond doubt that removal of inflamed organs or organs likely to suffer from repeated inflammation, in women, improves their chances of pregnancy." 
 
 Explaining the findings, published in Fertility and Sterility, is more of a challenge. 
 
 Image copyright PA Image caption Medical records from more than half a million British women were analysed by researchers 
 
 One biological possibility is that regularly infected tonsils or appendixes raise levels of inflammation in the body, which affects the ovaries and womb. 
 
 The Dundee team favour a behavioural explanation such as women enjoying more "liberal sexual activity", being both more likely to get pregnant and have pelvic inflammatory disease, which could lead to an appendix being removed. 
 
 More research is needed to figure this out. 
 
 'Interesting paper' 
 
 Prof Allan Pacey, from the University of Sheffield, told the BBC: "This is an interesting paper which suggests that surgical removal of the appendix or tonsils (or both) in young women is associated with an increase in their fertility later in life. 
 
 "There are several explanations which may account for these observations, one of which is that the removal of these tissues makes an alteration to their immune system which has an impact to some aspect of the reproductive process (such as how their embryos implant in the womb). 
 
 "If true, this may ultimately give doctors and scientists some new ideas for novel drugs or therapies to enhance women's fertility. 
 
 "But to suggest that infertile women have their tonsils or appendix removed as a way of improving their chances is a step too far at this stage." 
 
 Follow James on Twitter. ||||| (CNN) Have you had your tonsils or appendix removed? If you have and you're a woman, you probably weren't told that the surgery may have increased your chances of having a baby. 
 
 In fact, you may have been told the opposite. 
 
 But a new 15-year study found that women who had their tonsils or appendix removed when they were young are more likely to get pregnant -- and to do so earlier in life. 
 
 The reasons behind the link are not fully understood. 
 
 Researchers at the University of Dundee examined the medical records of more than 530,000 women across the United Kingdom and found pregnancy rates to be higher among women who had had their tonsils or appendix removed. Pregnancies were even higher among people missing both. 
 
 Rates of pregnancy among women without an appendix or tonsils were 54% and 53%, respectively, and rates in women lacking both parts of their body were 59%. This was higher than pregnancies among the group representing the rest of the population, which was almost 44%. 
 
 The findings go against previous theories in medicine that these surgeries, particularly appendectomies, reduce chances of fertility due to scar tissue forming around a woman's fallopian tubes, where her eggs travel. 
 
 "The study has challenged the myth that was previously accepted on the deleterious effects of appendectomies," said Dr. Sami Shimi , a consultant surgeon and clinical lecturer in surgery at the University of Dundee who led the study. "Young women should not have any fear or anxiety about an appendectomy (or tonsillectomy) reducing their fertility." 
 
 The current research follows a report in 2012 that linked appendectomies to higher rates of pregnancy. The new study backs this previous insight on a wider scale but added the extra association with tonsillectomies and people who have undergone both surgeries. 
 
 Biology or behavior? 
 
 It's hoped the findings will reassure women who need these surgeries, but the researchers are now eager to understand why fertility was seen to increase. 
 
 "We now need to find the mechanism," Shimi said. He believes there could be either a biological or behavioral reason behind it. "We're not discounting either for now." 
 
 The biological contender is the idea that inflammation within the body from a continually inflamed appendix, or tonsils, puts strain and burden on the body, weakening it and potentially reducing chances of conception. 
 
 Alternatively, Shimi suggests that increased promiscuity among some women, and therefore increased contact and intimacy -- through kissing or sex -- may directly increase chances of tonsillitis or else chances of abdominal infection. The latter would not cause appendicitis as such but could lead to more abdominal infections or pain, which is more likely to lead to hospital referrals and investigations in which an inflamed appendix may be spotted more readily. 
 
 Both options need further investigation. 
 
 "It's a very interesting association they've shown here," said Richard Anderson , professor of clinical reproductive science at the University of Edinburgh, who wasn't involved in the new study. "The issue is that it's purely an association." 
 
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 Anderson warns that people may believe that the two factors -- the surgeries and fertility -- are causally linked, but "there's no evidence of that here." He added that the real question now is whether women who undergo these surgeries are more fertile or whether they are more likely to get pregnant at a younger age. 
 
 "Tonsillectomies are rare these days," he added. "It's whether women who chose to have their tonsils removed (rather than ongoing rounds of antibiotics) are also choosing to fall pregnant more often." 
 
 Both Anderson and Shimi agree that the findings should instead be used to reassure women who need the surgeries and that those wanting to improve their fertility should not request to have them. 
 
 "Young women should not seek appendectomies or tonsillectomies to increase their chances of pregnancy," Shimi said. "But if they need one, the operation will not reduce their future chances of pregnancy." ||||| The findings are surprising as most doctors believe that an appendectomy can damage fertility by blocking the fallopian tubes. The researchers warn that many women who sought fertility help may have been wrongly told their failure to get pregnant was down to having their appendix removed. 
 
 “For many years medical students were taught that appendectomy had a negative effect on fertility and young women often feared that having their appendix removed threatened their chances of later becoming pregnant,” said Sami Shimi, Clinical Senior Lecturer in the School of Medicine at the University of Dundee and a consultant surgeon with NHS Tayside. 
 
 “We have found that women who have had an appendectomy or tonsillectomy, or even more particularly both, are more likely to become pregnant, and sooner than the rest of the general population. 
 
 “This scientifically challenges the myth of the effect of appendectomy on fertility. What we have to establish now is exactly why that is the case.” 
 
 Mr Shimi said it was possible that women who suffered from appendix problems may simply have more sexual intercourse, which can cause pelvic inflammation. But reducing inflammation in the pelvis through an appendectomy could reverse any problems, making pregnancy easier. ||||| Woman 'to become first in the world to give birth to a baby from a transplanted womb' after doctors successfully implant embryo 
 
 Woman suffers from MRKH syndrome - a congenital disorder which prevents the womb from developing, but doesn't impact the ovaries 
 
 
 
 She was one of nine women to undergo a womb transplant in Sweden 
 
 
 
 Doctors have transferred an embryo grown from her own egg to her womb 
 
 She will have to wait to see if the embryo embeds in the uterine wall to find out whether she is in fact pregnant 
 
 If she carries to term, she will be the first womb transplant patient in the world to give birth to a baby 
 
 
 
 Another womb transplant patient lost her baby during pregnancy last year 
 
 A women is set to become the first in the world to give birth from a transplanted womb after doctors successfully implanted an embryo into her body. 
 
 
 
 The unnamed woman, who was born without a womb, was one of nine to receive a womb transplant in Sweden between September 2012 and April last year. 
 
 
 
 It is now hoped she will become the first in the world to successfully give birth following the procedure after doctors managed to transfer an embryo grown from the woman's own egg last week. 
 
 
 
 This means any child she has through IVF would genetically be her own. 
 
 New hope: An unnamed woman may now become the first in the world to give birth to a womb transplant baby after doctors successfully transferred an embryo into her body. Image shows Sweden's University of Gothenburg team practising how to carry out the womb transplant operation ahead of the procedure 
 
 
 
 And as her transplanted womb was transferred by her mother, her baby would also be the first in the world to be born from the same womb as their mother. 
 
 
 
 Dr Mats Brannstrom, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg, who led the transplant team, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'The best scenario is a baby in nine months. 
 
 
 
 The woman was one of nine to undergo womb transplants in Sweden between September 2012 and April last year. Picture shows the Swedish surgical team practising the transplant operation 
 
 'A success would be an important proof of principle that a procedure is now available to cure uterine infertility.' 
 
 
 
 The woman suffers from MRKH syndrome, a congenital disorder which prevents the womb from developing, but means she still has intact ovaries which produce eggs. 
 
 
 
 This meant her egg could be fertilised outside of her body and the embryo then placed in her womb. 
 
 
 
 But the woman will have to wait and see if the embryo successfully embeds in her uterine wall before she will know if she is in fact pregnant. 
 
 
 
 Dr Brannstrom admits it's impossible to estimate the chance of success. 
 
 
 
 He told the newspaper: 'We know the pregnancy rate in the normal population − the chance for one embryo would be about 25 per cent − so it may take some trials until we get a pregnancy, or we may be lucky and get a pregnancy first time. We don’t know.' 
 
 
 
 Seven of the other transplant patients also suffered from this condition while the ninth had her womb removed after suffering cervical cancer. 
 
 
 
 The development will give hope to thousands of childless women across Europe and at least 15,000 in the UK. 
 
 
 
 The method has been controversial though because it involves taking wombs from living donors. The Swedish team favours it because the organs are generally in better condition and a better immunological match. 
 
 
 
 Other surgeons in the same field do not believe it is right to put a living donor through such a major operation when it is not life-saving. 
 
 
 
 Procedure: Doctors grew an embryo from the woman's own egg before implanting it in her transplanted womb as it is not connected to her fallopian tubes 
 
 They say the best option is to use an organ from a dead donor. This allows them to transplant extra tissue and the major blood vessels needed to take the strain of pregnancy. 
 
 
 
 Richard Smith, head of Womb Transplant UK, said earlier this month that the charity is ready to give five British women wombs from dead donors, subject to receiving ethical clearance and raising the £500,000 required to cover the cost of surgery. ‘We are good to go, save for the fact we haven’t got any money,’ he said. 
 
 Derya Sert, pictured, from Turkey, had a transplant in August 2011 and subsequently conceived but she miscarried after eight weeks of pregnancy 
 
 Mr Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon, described the Swedish breakthrough as ‘amazing’ and said a successful birth would bolster similar projects around the world. 
 
 
 
 Any babies the Swedish women bear are likely to be delivered by caesarean section and the new wombs will be removed after only one or two pregnancies. 
 
 The women are on powerful immunosuppressant drugs but the biggest worry is how well a transplanted womb will cope with the strains of pregnancy, during which the womb swells from the size of a pear to that of a melon. 
 
 Critics question the process, with fertility expert Lord Winston saying the risks are too great and some women should accept that they will never bear children. 
 
 
 
 Those in favour say it is the only way for some women to fulfil their deep-seated yearning to have a baby. 
 
 
 
 Experts say the operations will only be considered a success on the birth of a healthy baby. 
 
 
 
 Dr Yacoub Khalaf, medical director of the Assisted Conception unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in London, said: ‘What remains to be seen is whether this is a viable option or if this is going to be confined to research and limited experimentation.’ 
 
 
 
 The world’s first womb transplant took place in Saudi Arabia in 2000. However, the woman’s body rejected the donated organ after four months. 
 
 
 
 Turkish doctors performed a successful transplant in 2011, but patient Derya Sert lost her baby during pregnancy last year.
– Having their tonsils or appendix removed might result in an unexpected benefit for young women who hope to become pregnant someday: New research suggests they might be more fertile as a result. A 15-year study of half a million British women finds that a woman who has undergone a tonsillectomy or appendectomy has a 49% and 34% higher chance of getting pregnant, respectively, than a woman with her appendix and tonsils intact, reports the Telegraph. A woman who's had both procedures has a 43% higher chance of getting pregnant. One of the researchers says the study "confirms beyond doubt that removal of inflamed organs or organs likely to suffer from repeated inflammation, in women, improves their chances of pregnancy" rather than reduces those chances, as some doctors believe. It isn't clear why the procedures are linked to increased fertility—doctors previously suggested scar tissue around the fallopian tubes after an appendectomy reduced the chance of pregnancy—but it may simply be that women who have more sex are more likely to develop an infection. However, inflammation in the body can affect a woman's ovaries and womb, per the BBC, and it's possible that "the removal of these tissues makes an alteration to their immune system" that affects reproduction, says a scientist not involved in the study. "If true, this may ultimately give doctors and scientists some new ideas for novel drugs or therapies to enhance women's fertility." The researchers stress they're not advocating that otherwise healthy women have the procedures, notes CNN. (This procedure may double a woman's chance of conception.)