First Penis Transplant Surgery Performed In The US

First Posted: May 18, 2016 04:00 AM EDT
Close

In a first operation of its kind in the US, surgeons have attached a deceased donor's penis to a 64 year old man whose penis had to be amputated to prevent the spread of a cancerous tumor. The surgery makes Thomas Manning the first man to get a penis transplant in the US, according to recent reports. Manning, who is a bank employee, hopes to resume normal life once he leaves the hospital.

A surgical team at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston operated to replace a one-inch stump that Manning had been left with after the previous removal of most of his penis. The team of surgeons spent three years in preparation for the operation, which included working on cadavers to gain more insight into the intricate anatomy of the organ. Subsequently, trial run surgeries were performed on half a dozen dead donors.

The preparation phase also meant putting Manning through psychological screening to make him ready to deal with the penis transplant. Incidentally, the waiting list for finding a donor with the right skin tone and blood group took only two weeks.  

The operation was also part of a research procedure that aims to reconstruct members of the military and soldiers who incur brutal pelvic injuries during war. However, the process will also be helpful for general patients with similar damages as well as those suffering from the after effects of genital cancers. The leader of the surgical team, Curtis Cetrulo, is also researching ways to minimize the drug requirements that prevent the body from rejecting the donor organ.

"I want to go back to being who I was," Thomas Manning said to the New York Times. "I couldn't have a relationship with anybody. You can't tell a woman, 'I had a penis amputation'". Manning chose to speak publicly about his penis transplant surgery to give hope to others with genital injuries and cancers. According to the performing team of surgeons, Manning will be able to urinate normally in a few weeks and function sexually within months. Penis transplant procedures have earlier taken place in China and South Africa; however this was the first such surgery in the US.

See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone

©2017 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.

Join the Conversation

Real Time Analytics