The first-ever penis transplant was successfully performed in South Africa last year. Just months after the surgery, the recipient and his girlfriend reported that they were pregnant. One other penis transplant was performed in China in 2006, but was unsuccessful after the recipient's body rejected it. A penis transplant will be performed for the first time in the U.S. next year and the recipient will be a wounded war soldier.
The first of 60 patients who will receive the operation on U.S. soil—as granted permission by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore,where the surgeons are from—the soldier is reportedly an Afghanistan veteran who was injured in a bomb blast. Johns Hopkins plans on observing the surgery results before deciding whether it will become a standard procedure.
"I don't care who you are—military, civilian, anything—you have an injury like this, it’s more than just a physical injury," said Army Sgt 1st Class Aaron Causey after losing one testicle and a part of another, in addition to both legs, because of an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan 2011. According to the Department of Defense Trauma Registry, 1,367 military service men have been wounded in the genitals in Iraq or Afghanistan between 2001 and 2013. Almost all of the injured were younger than 35.
Transplants are ideal when the penis can't be repaired or reconstructed, according to the Johns Hopkins surgeons. The transplant, which only covers the penis and not the testes, will be made possible by a deceased organ donor.
Surgeons say the penis should "develop urinary function, sensation" months after the surgery. The recipient will also be able to have sex. Risks involved with the surgery, besides the recipient's body rejecting the transplant, include a higher chance of getting cancer because of the medicine given to prevent rejection. The transplant can be removed without any harm if it fails.
