First human trial of artificial womb aims to improve babies’ survival rates

The technology already tested on lambs may dramatically improve the survival rates of very premature babies.

Babies born could continue developing outside of the mother’s body in an artificial womb. Picture: Getty Images

The first human trial of an artificial womb could take place this year, raising hopes of dramatically improving the survival rates of very premature babies.

The trial would entail a premature infant spending part of its gestation, which should last 40 weeks, in a fluid-filled plastic “bio-bag” that has been designed to mimic the conditions found inside a mother’s uterus. The baby would be supplied with oxygen and nutrients via an artificial placenta attached to its umbilical cord while its lungs remain filled with liquid, as they are in a natural womb. The aim is to improve survival rates, which stand at just 10 per cent for babies born at 22 weeks.

The technique has been pioneered at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, with hundreds of successful trial runs using lambs. Dr Alan Flake, one of the team’s leaders, told US health regulators it now has data that “is adequate for consideration of a carefully designed clinical study” involving humans.

Prematurity is the single biggest cause of death of children under the age of one and a large majority of those who do survive have serious illnesses or disabilities. About 3200 babies are classed as “extremely preterm” in the UK each year, which means they are born before 28 weeks of pregnancy. At 27 weeks, survival rates are nearly 90 per cent, according to Tommy’s, a pregnancy and baby loss charity. But that falls to about 60 per cent at 24 weeks and to about 10 per cent at 22 weeks.

A human trial would involve foetuses on course to be born prematurely – probably between 22 and 24 weeks gestation – being removed from their mother using a procedure similar to a caesarean section. Drugs would be administered while the foetus is inside the natural womb to prevent damage to its immature lungs.

Dr Chloe Romanis, an expert in bioethics at Durham University, said: “There have been very promising and consistent results in animal trials. I do think that this technology will exist in the near future.”

The Times