Massachusetts
General Hospital confirmed Monday that Thomas Manning of Halifax,
Massachusetts, received the transplanted penis in a 15-hour procedure last
week. The organ was transplanted from a deceased donor.
The
New York Times first reported the transplant Monday.
Dr.
Curtis Cetrulo, who helped lead the surgical team, tells the newspaper that
normal urination should be possible for the 64-year-old Manning in a few weeks,
with sexual function possible in weeks to months.
"We're
cautiously optimistic," said Cetrulo, a plastic and reconstructive
surgeon, adding that "it's uncharted waters for us."
The
Times reports most of Manning's penis was removed amid a battle with an
aggressive and potentially fatal penile cancer. The cancer was discovered in
2012 after the bank courier was severely injured in a work accident. Doctors
treating him found an abnormal growth on his penis.
Manning
said he experienced hardly any pain during and after the procedure. One serious
complication came the day after the surgery when he was rushed to the operating
room after beginning to hemorrhage. He said his recovery has been smoother
since, but he still wasn't ready to take a close look at the transplant.
Manning,
who is single and was not involved with anyone when the cancer was discovered,
said the amputation made new relationships impossible.
He
said he'll be lucky if he gets to "75 percent" of what he used to be.
The bank courier told the newspaper that he looks forward to going back to work
and hopes to have a love life again. He said he's speaking out in order to help
dispel a stigma associated with cancers and injuries affecting the genitals.
The
donor penis came from the New England Organ Bank. It told the newspaper that
the donor's family wished to remain anonymous, but had delivered well wishes to
Manning.
It
took three years of preparation, including operations on cadavers, before the
team was ready to perform transplants. The operation on Manning involved about
a dozen surgeons and 30 other health care workers, according to the Times.
Cetrulo
said his team will likely perfect its technique on civilians before providing
transplants for injured veterans. He said the Defense Department doesn't
"like to have wounded warriors undergo unproven techniques."
A
set number of transplants is not planned. Dr. Dicken Ko, who directs the
hospital's urology program, said candidates for future transplants will be
evaluated on a case-by-case basis. They will be limited to cancer and trauma
patients for now, and will not be offered to transgender people.
Another
transplant is planned as soon as a matching donor becomes available for a
patient whose penis was destroyed by burns in a car accident, Cetrulo said.
The
world's first penis transplant was performed at the University of Stellenbosch
in South Africa in December 2014.
That
patient had his penis amputated three years earlier after complications from a
circumcision performed in his late teens.
The
university near Cape Town said in announcing the transplant in March 2015 that
the 21-year-old patient, whose name was not released, made a full recovering
following the nine-hour surgery and regained all function in the transplanted
organ.
A
man in China received a penis transplant in 2005. That operation also appeared
to be successful, but doctors said the man asked them to remove his new penis
two weeks later because of psychological problems experienced by him and his
wife.
Source:
foxnews.
No comments:
Post a Comment