UPDATE 11:03 a.m. EST June 3:
Thomas Manning, the first man ever to receive a penis transplant in the United States, left the hospital on Wednesday. The doctors told The New York Times that everything appeared to be working as planned and his body wasn't rejecting the transplanted penis.
See below for original story.
Hoping to return to his normal life, a 64-year-old man has had a donor cadaver's penis transplanted to his body. Thomas Manning, a cancer patient who works for a bank, reportedly became the first person in the United States to receive a donor penis on May 8.
The New York Timesreports Manning had to have most of his penis removed as a part of cancer treatments, leaving him with an inch of penile tissue after the tumor had been removed. He cited a desire for an intimate relationship and a return to his previous level of sexual function as important reasons for seeking the transplant, saying, "I couldn’t have a relationship with anybody. You can’t tell a woman, 'I had a penis amputation,'" Manning said.
According to The Guardian, the surgical team who performed the transplant spent three years prepping for the surgery, practicing the procedure on cadavers.
But Manning is not the first person in the world to ever receive a penis transplant, merely the first in the United States. The very first penile transplant was performed in Guangzhou General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command of China in 2006. The transplant was biologically, successful, but the patient asked for the transplant to be removed only a couple of months later due to severe psychological repercussions.
As for Manning, The Guardian reports that he underwent thorough psychological screening, and doctors expect that his transplant will enable him to urinate normally within a couple of weeks, and should have more sexual function in a matter of months.
Boston General Hospital did not immediately reply to Complex's request for comment.
