Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital have become the first surgical team in the US and just the third worldwide to successfully complete a penis transplant, announcing this week that they had attached a donated organ onto a 64-year-old man who had lost his due to cancer.
According to BBC News, the patient, Thomas Manning of Halifax, Massachusetts had his penis amputated three years ago due to penile cancer, but thanks to what doctors are calling “a surgical milestone,” he is expected to regain full urinary and sexual function over within a few months.
The transplant reportedly took 15 hours and required the efforts of more than four dozen doctors from several different departments, including urology and plastic surgery, the British news outlet said on Monday. Dr. Chris Cetrulo, head of the surgical team, said that the surgery could help to prevent suicides, and as such could even be viewed as “life-saving.”
Dr. Cetrulo said that he hoped that the transplant procedure could be used on wounded soldiers returning to the States from Iraq and Afghanistan. He and his colleagues also said that they plan to perform a second penis transplant involving a patient who had his destroyed in a car accident as soon as a donor becomes available.
Recipient hopes to ‘usher in a bright future’ for procedure
As mentioned earlier, Manning is only the third man to undergo a penis transplant procedure. The first such patient, a Chinese man who received a donated organ in 2006, ultimately decided to have the transplant reversed two weeks later after he and his wife experienced what they said was a “severe psychological problem,” according to BBC News.
The second procedure took place last year in South Africa and involved a man who suffered a series of complications following a botched circumcision ceremony. That operation turned out to be far more successful, and the recipient even went on to father a child using the donated organ. Manning’s surgery was performed on May 8 and May 9, the New York Times said.
In a statement, Manning said that he was beginning “a new chapter filled with personal hope and hope for others who have suffered genital injuries. In sharing this success with all of you, it’s my hope we can usher in a bright future for this type of transplantation.” He added that he hoped that going public with his experience would help others overcome the embarrassment associated with these injuries and showing that recovery from such trauma is possible.
Manning, who underwent a partial penectomy (amputation of the penis) after being diagnosed with penile cancer in 2012, underwent a procedure called a genitourinary vascularized composite allograft (GUVCA). The goals of the surgery, the hospital explained, are to reconstruct external genitalia to make it appear more natural, to re-establish urinary function, and, when possible, to restore normal sexual function for the patient.
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Image credit: BBC News
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