The world's first penis transplant has been successfully performed on a 21-year-old South African man.
The operation was performed at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town on Dec. 11, 2014 and took nine hours to complete. The patient has made a full recovery and has gained full urinary and reproductive function of the transplanted organ, Stellenbosch University reported.
"Our goal was that he would be fully functional at two years and we are very surprised by his rapid recovery," said André van der Merwe, head of SU's Division of Urology. "It's a massive breakthrough. We've proved that it can be done - we can give someone an organ that is just as good as the one that he had. It was a privilege to be part of this first successful penis transplant in the world."
The procedure was part of a pilot study that was aimed at developing a penile transplant procedure that could be performed in a typical hospital theater setting.
"There is a greater need in South Africa for this type of procedure than elsewhere in the world, as many young men lose their penises every year due to complications from traditional circumcision," Van der Merwe said.
The transplant recipient had his penis amputated three years ago after developing severe complications following a circumcision.
"This is a very serious situation. For a young man of 18 or 19 years the loss of his penis can be deeply traumatic. He doesn't necessarily have the psychological capability to process this. There are even reports of suicide among these young men," Van der Merwe said.
To perform the groundbreaking procedure, the surgeons used the same type of microscopic surgery used to connect small blood vessels and nerves in face transplants. In the future, the technique could be applied to men who have lost their penises to cancer, or even those suffering from severe erectile dysfunction.
"The heroes in all of this for me are the donor, and his family. They saved the lives of many people because they donated the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, skin, corneas, and then the penis," said Van der Merwe.
