A surgical team from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore performed a total penis and scrotum transplant, the first operation of its kind anywhere in the world.The recipient, who wishes to remain anonymous, had his genitals destroyed by a bomb while serving in Afghanistan. The serviceman also lost both legs below his knees, but he was particularly distraught by the loss of his genitals. The 14-hour procedure, called a vascularized composite allotransplantation, was carried out by two urological surgeons and nine plastic surgeons on March 26, 2018. Incredibly, the transplant involved a single piece of tissue that weighed nearly five pounds and measured about 10 inches across.
A deceased donor provided the entire penis, scrotum (without testicles), and partial abdominal wall. Surgeons worked to transplant the skin, muscles, tendons, nerves, bone, and blood vessels. The surgery appears to…
