Swedish medical team hoping for world first as women born without uterus or who lost it to cancer get embryo transfers 
 
 Four of nine women given pioneering womb transplants in Sweden have now also had embryos transferred, the pioneering Swedish doctor treating them has said. 
 
 Dr Mats Brannstrom, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Gothenburg University, said his team had embarked on a programme of embryo transfer for the women, who were either born without a womb or lost it as a result of cancer. All have ovaries so were able to produce eggs that were fertilised using IVF. 
 
 Brannstrom predicted that three or four of the nine women might succeed in giving birth, which would be a world first. Other womb transplants have taken place in Saudi Arabia and Turkey but no recipients have yet managed to have a child. A pregnancy was achieved in Turkey, but it failed after two months. 
 
 "We have already begun transferring embryos into four of the women and plan to make attempts with the others when they are ready," said Brannstrom. He would not say whether any of the women were pregnant at the moment. In a study published last week, the team said that there were "mild rejection episodes" in four women who received donated wombs. Two patients had to have the uterus removed because of complications. 
 
 Brannstrom's technique is controversial because he is accepting wombs donated by living women, who are relatives or friends of his patients. Elsewhere, wombs from dead donors have been used. 
 
 Dr Richard Smith, head of the UK charity Womb Transplant UK, which is trying to raise money to carry out transplants here, has said that large chunks of blood vessels had to be removed from the donor as well as the uterus itself, raising the risks of the operation for the donor. In the UK, there would be ethical questions because the operation is not a life-saving procedure, he said. 
 
 The women will have to take drugs throughout their pregnancy to ensure their body does not reject the organ. They will also have to be watched carefully for how the womb progresses throughout pregnancy. 
 
 Dr Charles Kingsland, a spokesman for Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "There are questions about how the physiological changes in the uterus will affect the mother and whether the transplanted uterus will be conducive to a growing baby." 
 
 Brannstrom said the transplanted wombs would be removed after a maximum of two pregnancies. ||||| LONDON (AP) — A Swedish doctor says four women who received transplanted wombs have had embryos transferred into them in an attempt to get pregnant. 
 
 FILE - In this April 4, 2012 photo made available by the University of Goteborg in Sweden, the Swedish research team practices before the operations to transplant wombs at the Sahlgrenska Hospital in... (Associated Press) 
 
 He would not say on Monday whether any of the women had succeeded. In all, nine women in Sweden have received new wombs since 2012, but two had to have them removed because of complications. 
 
 The women received wombs donated by their mothers or other close relatives in an experimental procedure designed to test whether it's possible to transfer a uterus so a woman can give birth to her own biological child. The women had in vitro fertilization before the transplants, using their own eggs to make embryos. 
 
 "We have already begun transferring embryos into four of the women and plan to make attempts with the others when they are ready," said Dr. Mats Brannstrom, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Goteburg, who is leading the research. 
 
 Brannstrom predicted that three or four of the seven women might successfully give birth. 
 
 "One or two more will perhaps get pregnant and miscarry, and one or two won't be able to get pregnant," he said. 
 
 There have been two previous attempts to transplant a womb — in Turkey and Saudi Arabia — but both failed to produce babies. Doctors in Britain and Hungary also are planning similar operations, but using wombs from women who had just died. 
 
 Brannstrom said any woman in the study who does get pregnant will be on a low dose of drugs to keep from rejecting the transplanted womb and will be monitored as a high-risk pregnancy. 
 
 The transplants are intended to benefit women unable to have children because they lost a uterus to cancer or were born without one. 
 
 Some doctors said women who got pregnant with a new uterus would have to be watched carefully for how the womb progresses throughout pregnancy. 
 
 "There are questions about how the physiological changes in the uterus will affect the mother and whether the transplanted uterus will be conducive to a growing baby," said Dr. Charles Kingsland, a spokesman for Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and a gynecologist at Liverpool Women's Hospital. 
 
 In a study published last week, Brannstrom and colleagues described the procedures used to transplant the nine wombs and said there were "mild rejection episodes" in four patients. 
 
 He said the transplanted wombs would be removed after a maximum of two pregnancies. 
 
 Other experts called it a promising step but said it would be crucial that babies get enough nutrients from the mother's blood supply. 
 
 "We really don't know if the blood flow to the uterus will increase and adapt in the same way," as in a regular pregnancy, said Dr. Yacoub Khalaf, director of the Assisted Conception unit at Guy's and St. Thomas' hospital in London. 
 
 "It is a good sign they have done the (embryo) transfers," Khalaf said. "But a live birth will be the best validation that this works."
– Swedish doctors are advancing in their quest to implant embryos in women who have received pioneering womb implants, the Guardian reports. A medical team in Gothenburg has successfully transferred embryos to four of nine women with implants, a major advance after transferring just one embryo in January. Mats Brannstrom, who leads the team, wouldn't say if any of the women are pregnant, and a study by the group said four women experienced "mild rejection episodes"; in fact, two had their uterus removed due to complications. "One or two more will perhaps get pregnant and miscarry, and one or two won't be able to get pregnant," said Brannstrom, the AP reports. Other doctors say the women must be carefully watched to see how well a transplanted uterus functions. "It is a good sign they have done the transfers," said a doctor. "But a live birth will be the best validation that this works." Controversy has surrounded the Swedish project because it accepted wombs from live women who are friends or family of the patients, creating possible health risks for the donors. Two other womb transplant attempts, in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, failed to produce a child; only the Turkish donation was from a dead donor.