The Strait Times - AFP, March 13, 2015
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| A still image from an online report on the surgery. South African doctors announced Friday that they had performed the world's first successful penis transplant, three months after the ground-breaking operation. -- Photo Unca |
JOHANNESBURG
(AFP - South African doctors announced on Friday that they had performed the
world’s first successful penis transplant, three months after the
ground-breaking operation.
The
21-year-old patient had his penis amputated three years ago after a botched
circumcision at a traditional initiation ceremony.
In a
nine-hour operation at the Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, he received his new
penis from a deceased donor, whose family were praised by doctors.
“We’ve
proved that it can be done – we can give someone an organ that is just as good
as the one that he had,” said Professor Frank Graewe, head of plastic
reconstructive surgery at Stellenbosch University.
“It was a
privilege to be part of this first successful penis transplant in the world.”
Doctors say
the man, whose identity has not been disclosed, has made a full recovery since
the operation on Dec 11 and has regained all urinary and reproductive
functions.
“Our goal
was that he would be fully functional at two years and we are very surprised by
his rapid recovery,” said Professor Andre van der Merwe, head of Stellenbosch’s
urology division.
MT @eNCAnews: Cape #penistransplant gives circumcision victims' hope >> http://t.co/wJ7EZAuEB5 pic.twitter.com/CDVyHbyUfY
— Stellenbosch Univ (@StellenboschUni) 13 maart 2015
In 2006, a
Chinese man had a penis transplant but his doctors removed the organ after two
weeks due to “a severe psychological problem of the recipient and his wife”.
Scores of
South African teenage boys and young men have their penises amputated each year
after botched circumcisions during rite-of-passage ceremonies.
“There is a
greater need in South Africa for this type of procedure than elsewhere in the
world,” Van der Merwe said in a statement.
Dangerous Rituals
African
teenagers from some ethnic groups spend about a month in secluded bush or
mountain regions as part of their initiation to manhood.
The
experience includes circumcision, as well as lessons on masculine courage and
discipline.
A
commission last year found 486 boys had died at the winter initiation schools
between 2008 and 2013, with a major cause being complications such as infection
after circumcision.
“For a
young man of 18 or 19 years, the loss of his penis can be deeply traumatic,”
said Van der Merwe.
“He doesn’t
necessarily have the psychological capability to process this. There are even
reports of suicide among these young men.”
Van der
Merwe described the anonymous donor and his family as “the heroes” of the
story.
“They saved
the lives of many people because they donated the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver,
skin, corneas and then the penis,” he said.
The South
African team included three senior doctors, transplant coordinators,
anaesthetists, theatre nurses, a psychologist and an ethicist.
Surgeons
from Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital had searched extensively
for a suitable donor as part of a pilot study to develop penis transplants in
Africa.
Some
techniques were developed from the first facial transplant in France in 2005.
They now
plan to perform nine more similar operations.
South
Africa has long been a pioneer of transplant surgery.
In 1967,
Chris Barnard performed the world’s first heart transplant at Groote Schuur
Hospital in Cape Town.
The Chinese
man who rejected his new penis in 2006 received his transplant after parents of
a brain-dead man agreed to donate their son’s organ.
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