Be careful--It might not work for you either
First penis transplant reversed after two weeks
Operation successful, but recipient suffered 'severe psychological problem'
Updated: 12:45 a.m. ET Sept 19, 2006
LONDON - Surgeons in China who said they performed the first successful penis transplant had to remove the donated organ because of the severe psychological problems experienced by the man and his wife.
The case appears to be the first such transplant reported in a medical journal — European Urology, published by the European Association of Urology.
The Chinese doctors could not be reached for comment, and their report does not explain how the 44-year-old man lost his penis. It says only that “an unfortunate traumatic accident” left him with a small stump, unable to urinate or have sex normally.
Surgeons led by Dr. Hu Weilie at Guangzhou General Hospital performed the complex 15-hour microsurgery to attach the penis in September 2005, a hospital spokesperson said Tuesday. The penis had been donated by the parents of a 22-year-old brain-dead man. The operation was successful but Hu and his team removed the transplant two weeks later.
“There was a strong demand from both the patient and his wife” for a transplant, and the operation “was discussed again and again” and approved by the hospital’s ethics committee, Hu wrote in the peer reviewed journal European Urology. The patient had been unable to have intercourse or urinate properly since the accident that occurred 8 months before the surgery was performed.
“Because of a severe psychological problem of the recipient and his wife, the transplanted penis regretfully had to be cut off,” Hu said in the report which was published online, without elaborating.
“This is the first reported case of penile transplantation in a human,” Hu added.
