US veteran who survived blast in Afghanistan receives first penis and scrotum transplant

Johns Hopkins Medicine

Members of the team that performed the surgery.

• A surgical team at the Johns Hopkins University performed the first penis and scrotum transplant on a US veteran. 
• The veteran, who preferred to remain anonymous, was injured by an IED blast in a Afghanistan a few years. 
• "When I first woke up, I felt finally more normal," the veteran said. 

A Baltimore hospital says a wounded U.S. veteran has received the world's most extensive penis transplant.

Doctors at Johns Hopkins University say the transplant included the scrotum and part of the abdominal wall. They say the patient had the highly experimental transplant last month in a 14-hour operation, and the patient is recovering well and expected to leave the hospital later this week.

"We are hopeful that this transplant will help restore near-normal urinary and sexual functions for this young man," W.P. Andrew Lee, M.D., director of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a press release. 

The patient, who asked not to be identified, had survived a blast in Afghanistan a few years ago that devastated his groin and pelvic region.

"It's a real mind-boggling injury to suffer, it is not an easy one to accept," the veteran said. "When I first woke up, I felt finally more normal… [with] a level of confidence as well. Confidence… like finally I'm okay now."

Three other successful penis transplants have been performed, two in South Africa and one in 2016 at Massachusetts General Hospital. But those transplants involved only the penis, not extensive surrounding tissue that makes such surgery for combat wounds more difficult.