Veteran who survived blast receives "world's most extensive" penis scrotum transplant

[Wolf-Pup (imported)]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/veteran-wh ... ransplant/

A U.S. veteran who lost his genitals from a blast in Afghanistan has received the world's most extensive penis transplant. Doctors said Monday he is recovering well and expected to leave the hospital this week.

Saying they wanted to address "an unspoken injury of war," Johns Hopkins University surgeons rebuilt the man's entire pelvic region — transplanting a penis, scrotum and part of the abdominal wall from a deceased donor — in a highly experimental 14-hour operation last month.

Such transplants "can help those warriors with missing genitalia just as hand and arm transplant transformed the lives of amputees," Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, Hopkins' chairman of plastic and reconstructive surgery, told reporters Monday.

The patient, who asked to remain anonymous, is expected to recover urinary and, eventually, sexual function.

"It's a real mind-boggling injury to suffer, it is not an easy one to accept," the patient said in a statement released by Johns Hopkins. "When I first woke up [after the transplant], I felt finally more normal."

The scrotum transplant did not include the donor's testicles, meaning reproduction won't be possible. "We just felt there were too many unanswered ethical questions" with that extra step, said Hopkins' Dr. Damon Cooney.

A team of nine plastic surgeons and two urological surgeons took part in the operation on March 26.

Three other successful penis transplants have been reported, two in South Africa and one in 2016 at Massachusetts General Hospital. Those transplants involved only the penis, not extensive surrounding tissue that made this transplant much more complex.

The loss of a penis, whether from cancer, accident or war injury, is emotionally traumatic, affecting urination, sexual intimacy and the ability to conceive a child. Many patients suffer in silence because of the stigma their injuries sometimes carry.

Doctors sometimes reconstruct the form of a penis from a patient's own skin, usually to treat congenital abnormalities or during transgender surgery. That requires using implants to achieve erection.

For a functional penis transplant, surgeons must connect tiny nerves and blood vessels. Candidates face some serious risks, including rejection of the tissue and side effects from anti-rejection drugs that must be taken for life.

But penis transplants have generated intense interest among veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, and a few years ago Hopkins surgeons began planning and rehearsing how to perform such a complex operation in patients with widespread tissue damage. The Department of Defense Trauma Registry has recorded 1,367 male service members who survived with genitourinary injuries between 2001 and 2013. It's not clear how many victims lost all or part of the penis.

Hopkins is screening additional veterans to see if they are good candidates for this type of reconstructive transplant. Finding donors is an additional hurdle: In the U.S., people or their families who agree to donate organs such as the heart or lung must be asked separately about also donating a penis, hand, face or other body part.

The Hopkins patient received an extra experimental step, an infusion of bone marrow from his donor that research suggests may help a recipient's immune system better tolerate a transplant. Surgeons said that is enabling the veteran to take one anti-rejection drug instead of several.

The first successful penis transplant was performed on a 21-year-old man in South Africa in December 2014, although doctors did not report it publicly until three months later. The hospital said the patient regained all urinary, reproductive and sexual functions with his new penis.

The first such operation in the U.S. transplanted an organ from a deceased donor to a 64-year-old penile cancer survivor, Thomas Manning of Halifax, Massachusetts. Manning issued a statement following the operation saying: "Today I begin a new chapter filled with personal hope and hope for others who have suffered genital injuries."

In an interview the following week, Manning told The Associated Press he never hesitated about going public with his ordeal.

"The bottom line is you can't worry about what other people think. You've got to get on with your life," he said. "I happen to be the first person to receive a penis transplant. What's the big deal?"

[cutnbulls2ox (imported)]

That s great news ! Finally drs are getting real and dealing with men s sexual organs like they should, as vital organs that technology can be used to its fullest to save, donate, transplant, and all the things that most other parts of the body have been benefitting from for many years.

I don t see why the drs have any problem with transplanting donated testicles. Sperm donation has been around forever and people don t get cold feet over that. Why should transplanting donnated testicles and the sperm they make for the new owner be any different from sperm donors and sperm banks for infertile men. I d think most testicle donors would be proud and thankful to have their testicles saved and given new life on another man s body. That s way better than getting buried or incinerated. Same with the sperm his balls make for a new owner. Why not create new life with donated testicles, penises, and the sperm from donated testicles ? Where is there any problem ? I d think most parents and siblings would be glad to see a son or brother s offspring given life by his donated balls and sperm.

[gandalf (imported)]

Too bad there is not a way to let the doctors know that you would be willing to donate your penis and/or testicles to someone who wants them rather than letting them go to waste. Also, it might open the door for easier acceptance of srs or grs surgery without all the hassle. Those wanting to be rid of them could donate them to those who want/need them.

[rogerwpbfl (imported)]

Too bad there is not a way to let the doctors know that you would be willing to donate your penis and/or testicles to someone who wants them rather than letting them go to waste. Also, it might open the door for easier acceptance of srs or grs surgery without all the hassle. Those wanting to be rid of them could donate them to those who want/need them.

I would donate my junk to a soldier... if they wanted it.

[cutnbulls2ox (imported)]

Rogerwpbfl,

That s it, what a man ! I knew we d have some extra patriotic men willing to donate their healthy dick and balls to a soldier or multiple soldiers eager to use them to the max ! You have 1367 military studs needing your dick and balls. Now how do you decide which man gets your set or if you split your set between more than one man, maybe one ball to each man and your cock to a third man ? And I bet you would enjoy seeing him or them impregnate women with your sperm and using your donated sex organs just like they belong to whoever gets your 2 balls and gets your sperm production to enjoy and put to maximum use in making kids. I can t see any man who is willing to donate his balls having any problem with his balls new owners using his sperm to have kids. Of course his sperm production is donated to the new man along with his balls ! Why would any drs see that as any moral problem ?

Gandalf,

I bet if anyone asked men and set up a donor site for men to donate their dick and balls to not only American but also to any allied soldiers and to any policemen, firemen, athletes or any other men at risk of losing their sex organs, or for any men needing them, that generous men would donate way more sex organs than were needed. Then the next list of men to receive them could be men wanting to trade in too small or too large of dicks and balls for their desired trade in models of their choices. Men would offer more cocks and balls than are missing !

The biggest problem would be that older men would donate their sex organs in much higher numbers than most younger men would be willing to donate their young healthy sets. You d have some soldier in his late teens or early 20s getting a 60 year olds set of dick and balls. That s way better than no dick and balls, but its not his young set with his young virility and erection abilities of his age. Maybe balls and dicks attached to a young man s body would spring to life and get a fountain of youth affect from his young brain cranking up his new balls testosterone and other hormones to a young man s levels from his young pituitary gland running an older man s balls like a young man s pair ? Interesting to see what a young body and brain running an older set of dick and balls could do with it !

[madnomadtoo (imported)]

I doubt the feasibility of donating your junk while you are living. In the case of the wounded soldier, news reports show that the transplanted tissue includes a large portion of the lower abdomen, transplanted in a large chunk. A living donor would be irreparably damaged. The soldier, however, was extensively injured, so perhaps more conservative techniques would suffice, depending on extent of emasculation. In cases of injury like this, we're likely talking more than a neat scrotectomy and penectomy from the donor. Would you donate if recovery meant serious, expensive and time consuming skin grafts to repair your pubic and perineum areas? Not to mention the ethical considerations of ravaging the donor to repair a non-life threatening injury.

Also, the decision to not transplant the testes may have been because reattaching the compact nerves, muscle and ducts reach beyond current practical medical techniques. There's a lot going on in that little "chord." What is so easily scissored away in the orchiectomy might present insurmountable difficulties going the other way. The research I found indicates testicular transplantation is currently highly "experimental." The obvious treatment is implants with TRT.

See http://www.businessinsider.com/full-pen ... ier-2018-4

[madnomadtoo (imported)]

Another more pragmatic consequence of testicular transplantation for fertility purposes is that the sperm produced would not be genetically yours. You would be fathering the donor's child, meaning additional screening efforts to match your phenotype with the donor's. Good fathers fall in love with their babies, however, and "close" always counts in horse shoes, hand grenades and infants.

[gandalf (imported)]

There is also the testing for compatibility, how close are match of the donor to the receiver. Like for other organ transplants.

[rogerwpbfl (imported)]

Rogerwpbfl,

That s it, what a man ! I knew we d have some extra patriotic men willing to donate their healthy dick and balls to a soldier or multiple soldiers eager to use them to the max ! You have 1367 military studs needing your dick and balls. Now how do you decide which man gets your set or if you split your set between more than one man, maybe one ball to each man and your cock to a third man ? And I bet you would enjoy seeing him or them impregnate women with your sperm and using your donated sex organs just like they belong to whoever gets your 2 balls and gets your sperm production to enjoy and put to maximum use in making kids. I can t see any man who is willing to donate his balls having any problem with his balls new owners using his sperm to have kids. Of course his sperm production is donated to the new man along with his balls ! Why would any drs see that as any moral problem ?

Gandalf,

I bet if anyone asked men and set up a donor site for men to donate their dick and balls to not only American but also to any allied soldiers and to any policemen, firemen, athletes or any other men at risk of losing their sex organs, or for any men needing them, that generous men would donate way more sex organs than were needed. Then the next list of men to receive them could be men wanting to trade in too small or too large of dicks and balls for their desired trade in models of their choices. Men would offer more cocks and balls than are missing !

The biggest problem would be that older men would donate their sex organs in much higher numbers than most younger men would be willing to donate their young healthy sets. You d have some soldier in his late teens or early 20s getting a 60 year olds set of dick and balls. That s way better than no dick and balls, but its not his young set with his young virility and erection abilities of his age. Maybe balls and dicks attached to a young man s body would spring to life and get a fountain of youth affect from his young brain cranking up his new balls testosterone and other hormones to a young man s levels from his young pituitary gland running an older man s balls like a young man s pair ? Interesting to see what a young body and brain running an older set of dick and balls could do with it !

Is it insensitive for me to think of the hotness if his wife/gf was expected to first try out the equipment, before it was "harvested", to give her approval? I'm getting another story idea hahaha

[cutnbulls2ox (imported)]

Depending on how comfortable the hot female partner and the soldier were, it only makes sense that both would be vitally interested in which set of penis and testicles they would get and both wanting to see the choice of sets that are available for transplant in action during sex and up close to see how well they work on the donor s body before the soldier chose which dick and balls to receive. He might choose one man s penis and another man s testicles as his favorite choices. And of course he d want to see them working to know what he is choosing and getting. Most donors would be invited to perform and give test rides for such an important decision for the men getting the transplants and their bed partners. I sure would want a demo or test drive before choosing the best set if I was getting a transplant like that. How else would you know erect sizes of penises and erection and ejaculation lasting power and semen production, fertility, semen volume and all kinds of functional questions vital to the organs use and choosing the best set ? It only makes sense to see how each set performs before choosing a set for life.

Good story material too.