The US is following in the footsteps of South Africa as surgeons are preparing to perform a penile transplant, which is expected to take place soon. News24 reports that they are getting pointers from Professor Andre van der Merwe, the head of Stellenbosch University's division of urology, who led the groundbreaking procedure that was performed at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town.
"I am inundated with requests for penile transplant from across the world," he is quoted in the report as saying. He said in most cases the requested related to penile cancer, but also included traumatic loss of penis and congenital aphallia, which is the term for when a male is born without a penis. "I have to disappoint all of them sadly as we only do this as part of a pilot study on South African citizens."
However, van de Merwe has been sharing some pointers on penis transplants with his counterparts abroad. "Many surgeons wanted technical details, which I happily provided," he said. "They wanted to replicate our process and all the steps needed to perform the transplant. A US centre has made good progress and I expect they should soon follow."
He added that the 21-year-old male, who became the first person to have a successful penile transplant, continues to do well. He lost his penis after a traditional circumcision. As part of the study, nine more patients, who suffered the same fate, will receive penile transplants, but only after costing estimates are done. "Cost analysis is in an advanced stage. Hopefully it's not to long before we can do the next one, but we need to learn all the lessons possible from the first case – who continues to do well." he said.
He said a firm plan is also in place to recruit donors and this includes successfully counselling potential donor families. The planning and preparation for the study in South Africa started in 2010 and the procedure in December 2014 was the second time that a penile transplant was attempted. The first procedure was performed in China in 2006.
[link url="http://www.health24.com/Lifestyle/Man/News/And-the-next-penis-transplant-will-be-pulled-off-by-20150514"]Full News24 report[/link]