World’s first total transplant of penis and scrotum done successfully

A team of US doctors have successfully carried out the world’s first total transplant of a penis and scrotum.

Surgeons at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, performed the operation on a soldier who had been wounded by a bomb in Afghanistan.

They used a penis, scrotum and partial abdominal wall transplanted from a deceased donor.

They say the soldier should be able to regain sexual function, which is impossible with penis reconstructions.

The team of 11 surgeons performed the transplant over 14 hours on 26 March.

It is the first surgery on a combat veteran injured on duty and the first to transplant a complete section of tissue including the scrotum and surrounding abdominal area.

His injury was the result of stepping on a hidden bomb in Afghanistan and the blasts from  the bomb affected his sexual organs. (Including the penis and scrotum).

Dr Rick Redett, clinical director of the genitourinary transplant programme, said that the soldier is recovering well and is expected to be discharged from hospital this week and  fully recovered in six to 12 months.

“It is our hope that such a life enhancing transplant will allow him to regain urinary and sexual function and lead a more normal life,” Dr Redett said. “It is also our goal to offer the procedure in the future to other suitable patients.”

The transplant team also said that the university has approved 60 genital transplant surgeries as a part of the programme.

The first penis transplant in the US was in 2016 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

In 2014, South African surgeons performed the world’s first successful penis transplant.