After 14 surgical hours, an American Armed Forces veteran was able to regain genitalia. It was the most complete penile transplant in the world and was held at Johns Hopkins Hospital in late March, today the hospital. The unnamed patient is walking and will be able to leave the hospital this weekteam.
This was the fourth successful penile transplant in the world so far, she told a press conference Richard Redett, clinical director of Johns Hopkins's gene transplant program.
But it is the first time that doctors have succeeded in transplanting such a large one region of the body, which included an area of the lower abdomen, the entire penis and testicles, from a deceased donor. Doctors say they will soon know if the patient can urinate, but regaining sensation will take longer, perhaps about six months.
BREAKING NEWS: @HopkinsMedicine performs the first total penis and scrotum #transplant in the world. https://t.co/HO7uwbOXta pic.twitter.com/BbWP931YFc
- Hopkins Med News (@HopkinsMedNews) April 23, 2018
The patient's legs, penis, testicles and lower abdomen virtually disappeared from an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, according to The New York Times.
Victims of such attacks are usually young - just 24 years old on average, according to a report published by the Bob Woodruff Foundation, and there are many of them: at least 1.378 men in the armed forces returned home with genital injuries from 2001 to 2013, states in the report.
The March surgery on the veteran of the USA started in 2013. This is partly due to the long technique preparation, which included dissections and trial surgeries on cadavers. Matching the donor and recipient was also a bit more complicated than for an organ like a kidney, according to the press release: In addition to matching the blood type of donors and recipients, doctors also matched their ages and skin tone. And because the recipient had rare blood, there were fewer potential donors.
The team decided earlier not to transplant the testicles. Damon Cooney, a professor of plastic surgery at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, said that with the testicles, the recipient of the transplant could have acquired a child who would have the donor DNA.
"We just thought there were a lot of unanswered ethical questions about this type of transplant," Cooney said.
For surgery, 11 surgeons were needed for 14 hours, and so far, the patient responds well.
"I finally felt more normal."
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