Category: News and Views
Chinese surgeons have performed the world's first penis transplant on a man whose
organ was damaged beyond repair in an accident this year. The incident left the man
with a 1cm-long stump with which he was unable to urinate or have sexual intercourse.
"His quality of life was affected severely," said Dr Weilie Hu, a surgeon at Guangzhou
General Hospital.
Doctors spent 15 hours attaching a 10cm penis to the 44-year-old patient after the
parents of a brain-dead man half his age agreed to donate their son's organ.
The procedure, described in a case study due to appear in the journal European Urology
next month, represents a big leap forward in transplant surgery; it required complex
microsurgery to connect nerves and tiny blood vessels.
The surgical team claims the operation was a success. After 10 days, tests revealed
the organ had a rich blood supply and the man was able to urinate normally.
Doctors have previously succeeded in reuniting men with their sexual organs after
traumatic accidents or attacks, but the Guangzhou operation is the first in which
a donor penis has successfully been attached to another man.
Although the operation was a surgical success, surgeons said they had to remove the
penis two weeks later. "Because of a severe psychological problem of the recipient
and his wife, the transplanted penis regretfully had to be cut off," Dr Hu said.
An examination of the organ showed no signs of it being rejected by the body.
Jean-Michel Dubernard, the French surgeon who performed the world's first face transplant
on a woman who had been attacked by a dog this year, said psychological factors were
a serious issue for many patients receiving certain "allografts", or organs from
donors. "Psychological consequences of hand and face allografts show that it is not
so easy to use and see permanently a dead person's hands, nor is it easy to look
in a mirror to see a dead person's face," he wrote in the journal. "Clearly, in the
Chinese case the failure at a very early stage was first psychological. It involved
the recipient's wife and raised many questions."
In 2001, surgeons were forced to amputate the world's first transplanted hand from
Clint Hallam, a 50-year-old New Zealander, who said he wanted the "hideous and withered"
hand removed because he had become "mentally detached" from it. The original transplant
was conducted by Prof Dubernard's team at the Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyons,
who have since performed the world's first double arm transplant.
Andrew George, a transplant expert at Imperial College, London, said: "Doing a penis
transplant should be no more complex than anything else. But it takes time for nerve
sensations to kick in and it's not clear whether the patient would ever be able to
have sex with it. The question is whether it's right to be doing a transplant for
what may be seen as cosmetic reasons."
hmmm, so he had it removed? what then I wonder?
interesting stuff. shame it ended up being such a psychological cock-up for him. or not. :P
I find it most interesting, that the penis wasn't rejected by him, but by his wife. lol
wow. there's some more advances in surgery
is it just me or is anybody else struck by the irony of the fact that the operating surgeon's name sounds almost exactly like willy who?
It's just you. LOL
It was an interesting article. It's a shame he had it removed and didn't wait longer to see if he and his wife could adjust to it.
This is quite interesting but strange at the same time.
Lol good call SJ! :) hahahaha
so is this a step forward for transgenders? i know somebody that went from a female to a male, had the chest surgery done but was not sure about having something done downstares
Wow, what a poor guy... Too bad he couldn't get used to it. (And i feel sorry for the wife too.)
That's sad about his wife rejecting.