 WASHINGTON (AP) — 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. The man, whose identity was not released, is recovering well and expected to regain both urinary and sexual function, Richard Redett, who led the transplant team, said at a Monday telephone news conference. The patient did not receive testicles from his donor to avoid the ethical issues that might ensue if he later had children, said Damon Cooney, another transplant team member. Three other successful penis transplants have been reported, two in South Africa and one in 2016 at Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to a large skin graft covering part of the sergeant’s abdomen, penis and scrotum, surgeons connected three arteries, four veins and two nerves to provide blood flow and sensation to the donated tissue. Johns Hopkins covered the cost of the procedure, and hopes to complete more in the near future, said W. P. Andrew Lee, who directs the hospital’s Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. The Hopkins patient received an extra experimental step, an infusion of bone marrow from his donor that research suggests may help a recipient's immune system better tolerate a transplant. “We believe that genital-urinary transplantation can help those warriors with missing genitalia, just as hand and arm transplants transformed the lives of amputees,” he said. At Massachusetts General, publicity surrounding the penile transplant encouraged other patients with genitourinary tissue damage to seek care.
– A US serviceman has become the world's first man to ever receive a full penis and scrotum transplant. Per USA Today, the veteran was injured by an IED years ago while on combat tour in Afghanistan. Surgeons from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine announced the historic news on Monday after performing the unprecedented surgery in Baltimore last month. The patient is expected to recover both urinary and sexual function, according to the surgeons. Surgeons said they rebuilt the man's entire pelvic region over the course of 14 hours. Per the AP, 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. Hopkins is screening additional veterans to see if they are good candidates for this type of reconstructive transplant. The Hopkins patient received an extra experimental step, an infusion of bone marrow from his donor that research suggests may help a recipient's immune system better tolerate a transplant. Surgeons said that is enabling the veteran to take one anti-rejection drug instead of several. In a statement from Hopkins, the patient was quoted as saying: "When I first woke up, I felt finally more normal."