The procedure is the second penis transplant to be reported in the U. S., but the first full transplant of its kind.
Doctors at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said a U. S. military sergeant has received the world’s first total penis and scrotum transplant.
The man, who has not been identified, was injured in an IED blast in Afghanistan several years ago.
The recipient lost both legs above the knee, but the genital damage was even more devastating to him, he told the New York Times .
In a statement, the recipient said his injury was “not an easy one to accept.”
“That injury, I felt like it banished me from a relationship,” he said in an interview last week with the New York Times. “Like, that’s it, you’re done, you’re by yourself for the rest of your life. I struggled with even viewing myself as a man for a long time.”
The Pentagon has focused on advancements in genital transplants to treat the scores of soldiers injured by IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We are hopeful that this transplant will help restore near-normal urinary and sexual functions for this young man,” said W. P. Andrew Lee, M. D., professor and director of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The 14-hour surgery, conducted by a team of nine plastic surgeons and two urological surgeons on March 26, involved a transplant from a deceased donor of the entire penis, the scrotum without testicles and partial abdominal wall. The testicles, which could have contained sperm from a deceased donor, were not included in the transplant.
“When I first woke up, I felt finally more normal…with a level of confidence as well. Confidence… like finally I’m OK now,” he said.
The patient is expected to be discharged from the hospital this week.
The procedure is the second penis transplant to be reported in the U. S., but the first full transplant of its kind. In 2014, doctors reported a successful penis transplant in South Africa and in 2016, one was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital. Both of those procedures involved only the organ itself, not the scrotum or surrounding flesh as in this case, The New York Times reported.
The New York Times contributed to this report.
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