Uterus transplant procedure approved

New York surgeon Giuseppe Del Priore and his surgical team received approval from New York's Downtown Hospital board, NewScientist.com said.

The transplant team said it is interviewing potential candidates. The team said women who undergo the transplant would be given a healthy uterus from a donor who died.

Del Priore and researchers at the University of Pittsburgh performed the first successful uterus transplant in a monkey.

Del Priore said he plans to track a pregnancy in a monkey that has undergone a transplant, but he said he thought enough study has been done to consider the procedure safe for women, NewScientist.com said. If a uterus transplant were carried out, it would only be the second in the world; the first, in Saudi Arabia in 2000, failed.

One researcher in Sweden said performing the transplant before more non-human primate study is done would put the recipient at risk, while a British doctor said he was two years away from performing a uterus transplant on a woman, NewScientist.com said.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International