New penises for veterans
American doctors are working on issues of penis transplantation
Eugene @jeston, Geektimes
A New York Times columnist talks about the initiative of Johns Hopkins University doctors from Baltimore, who are working on penis Transplants (Penis Transplants Being Planned to Help Wounded Troops). In fact, the issue with this operation is not as simple as it may seem: only two similar cases are mentioned in medical journals. The first took place in China in 2006 and ended unsuccessfully, and the second – successful – happened last year in Cape Town.
A Chinese patient lost a transplanted penis due to psychological problems, while the cause of the initial injury is not known for certain. In the case of a young man from Africa who lost an organ as a result of complications after an unsuccessful circumcision, the story ended well, and according to recent information, he was able to become a father. Now the doctors of Johns Hopkins University intend to significantly expand this list of operations performed, helping the military who were injured as a result of hostilities.
According to the plans of the research department, a total of 60 transplants will be carried out. Doctors have more than enough potential patients. According to statistics from the US Department of Defense, from 2001 to 2013, during the fighting in Iran and Afghanistan, at least 1,367 people were injured, as a result of which they lost their penis. This often happened as a result of the use of improvised explosive devices and led to serious wounds, in which not only the penis was damaged, but also the testicles.
Almost all of the victims are young people under the age of 35. In this regard, doctors had to give explanations – does it make sense to spend time and money on an operation that in fact does not threaten the patient's life? As a result, taking into account the active age of patients, it was decided that this aspect of human life is quite important and therefore the operation, the cost of which can vary from $ 200,000 to $400,000, is quite justified for the rehabilitation of a veteran.
Penis transplantation surgery is performed with specially trained psychologically and physically patients who have preserved the sensitivity of the nerve endings that participate in the transplant. A donor organ is obtained from a deceased person with the consent of his relatives. The operation lasts about 12 hours, during which surgeons need to connect from two to six nerves, as many veins and arteries, stitching them under a microscope.
Source: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery; Johns Hopkins University
For the first few weeks after surgery, the patient will have to use a urinary catheter, and subsequently take special medications all his life to avoid penis rejection. The restoration of sexual function will take longer, since it depends on the rate of regeneration of the patient's nervous tissue, which should form a single whole with the nervous tissue of the transplanted organ. All patients will be under the supervision of doctors for a long time, since the operation is experimental in nature and the main purpose of their series is to develop a methodology and gain experience in recovery after surgery.
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09.12.2015