First-Ever Successful Penis Transplant

In 2018, at Johns Hopkins Hospital, doctors were able to successfully transplant a penis and scrotum. The recipient was a veteran who lost his lower half due to an IED in Afghanistan. Given the amount of skin, nerves, muscles and other tissue involved, this transplant surgery was groundbreaking. Upon release, the man is expected to have full urinary function and is projected to regain sexual function, including the ability to have an erection, in 6 months.

Transplant Rejection

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to transplanting body parts is organ rejection or graft-vs-host disease. Rejection is when the host immune system attacks the organ. Graft-vs-host disease is when the transplanted organ actually attacks the host! To overcome this, transplant recipients must take years of anti-rejection and immunosuppressant medication and even then, the organ may be rejected eventually. All transplanted organs butt heads with the host’s immune system, but skin is particularly troublesome because of the amount of donor immune cells it brings with it. READ: Lady Runs For Dear Life From Lover’s Huge Manhood

Bone Marrow Infusion

Knowing how much skin is involved in a penis and scrotum transplant, doctors knew that something had to be done to minimize rejection. At Johns Hopkins, they came up with a procedure that does just that. The patient receives an infusion of the donor’s bone marrow and stem cells. The result is a condition called mixed chimerism, which allows the host and transplanted organ immune system cells to co-exist in relative harmony.

Mixed Chimerism

What is chimerism, you ask? Well, a chimera is someone who has cells and body parts that contain DNA from two different people. This rare event usually happens in the womb, when a fraternal twin absorbs its sibling. In the case of the penis transplant, the transplanted part and the host are the two sets of DNA. In this case, chimera has been created artificially. And because the two immune systems tolerate each other, the recipient only needs to take a small dose of immunosuppressants once a day. Compared to the amount of medication past recipients had to take, this is a huge quality of life improvement.

When Are the Bionic Parts Coming?

With innovations in both surgery and immunology, doctors are able to transplant organs today that had been deemed impossible just a couple of decades ago. Perhaps in a few more decades, we will finally perfect transplanting and move on bionic parts! Source: hopkinsmedicine.org