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Doctors have been granted approval to carry out the UK's first 10 womb transplants, following the success of the procedure in Sweden.

The go-ahead has been given by the Health Research Authority - as part of a clinical trial - which launches in the spring.

Around one in 7,000 women are born without a womb, while others lose their womb to cancer.

If the trial is successful, the first UK baby could arrive in early 2018.

Dr Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecologist at the Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London who has been working on the project for 19 years, will lead the transplant team.

He said childlessness could be a "disaster" for couples, but the technique would offer hope to those whose only other option is surrogacy or adoption.

How would the procedure work?

  • The operation takes around six hours, with the organ coming from a donor who has died but whose heart has been kept beating
  • The recipient will need to take immunosuppressant drugs following the transplant and throughout any pregnancy to prevent the chance their...