Veteran who survived blast receives penis transplant

WASHINGTON—A veteran who lost his genitals from a blast in Afghanistan has received the world’s most extensive penis transplant, and doctors said Monday he is recovering well and expected to leave the hospital this week.

Saying they wanted to address “an unspoken injury of war,” Johns Hopkins University surgeons rebuilt the man’s entire pelvic region—transplanting a penis, scrotum and part of the abdominal wall from a deceased donor—in a highly experimental 14-hour operation last month.

Such transplants “can help those warriors with missing genitalia just as hand and arm transplant transformed the lives of amputees,” Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, Hopkins’ chairman of plastic and reconstructive surgery, told reporters Monday.

The patient, who asked to remain anonymous, is expected to recover urinary and, eventually, sexual function.

The scrotum transplant did not include the donor’s testicles, meaning reproduction won’t be possible. “We just felt there were too many unanswered ethical questions” with that extra step, said Hopkins’ Dr. Damon Cooney.

Three other successful penis transplants have been reported, two in South Africa and one in 2016 at Massachusetts General Hospital. Those transplants involved only the penis, not extensive surrounding tissue that made this transplant much more complex.

The loss of a penis, whether from cancer, accident or war injury, is emotionally traumatic, affecting urination, sexual intimacy and the ability to conceive a child. Many patients suffer in silence because of the stigma their injuries sometimes carry.