Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mass. General Performs First Penis Transplant in U.S.
Framingham Patch ^ | May 16, 2016 | ALISON BAUTER

Posted on 05/16/2016 10:07:48 AM PDT by Maceman

BOSTON, MA - In a 15-hour procedure spanning two days and performed by a more than 50-member team, surgeons at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital have completed the first penis transplant in the U.S.

Thomas Manning, a 64-year-old bank courier for Halifax, lost his penis to cancer in 2012 and was the recipient of the transplant. The organ came from a deceased donor.

In a press conference Monday, MGH surgeons described the intense isolation and loss that comes with losing the penis, as a result of injury or illness.

"Ultimately, it's a loss of self-identity," said Dr. Dicken Ko, the team leader and director of MGH's regional urology program. "These devastating losses are endured by themselves alone, and often in silence."

Manning, who surgeons described as a "courageous patient," was one such person. Manning "coped very well with his diagnosis," but "felt the loss" after a partial penectomy, the result of a diagnosis of rare and potentially fatal penile cancer, said his physician, Dr. Adam Feldman. He volunteered for the transplant, Feldman said.

"He wants to be whole again, he wants to be... not in the shadows," said Curtis Cetrulo, who led Manning's surgical team. "That really echoes what a lot of patients with these injuries feel like. It's difficult to talk about."

Surgeons said Manning is doing well Monday, roughly one week since the surgery was completed. They remain "cautiously optimistic."

The surgery means there is potential for other special tissue transplants, such as ears or fingers, Ko said. It also has potential implications for transgender surgeries, although that is outside their initial scope, surgeons said.

(Excerpt) Read more at patch.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-87 next last
To: Maceman

I’m not going to touch this with a ten foot pole. (or a Hungarian, a Chec or a Slovak.)


61 posted on 05/16/2016 11:23:39 AM PDT by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

Exactly. I’m with you.

When I posted this, I figured there would be some smart remarks, but I hadn’t figured that the entire comment thread would consist almost entirely of posters who sounded like they were in junior high school.


62 posted on 05/16/2016 11:24:59 AM PDT by Maceman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: TontoKowalski

I feel the same way. This is shameful. I don’t have any problem, no, I am all for breast reconstruction surgery for women who have had trauma or cancer, and I feel 100% the same way about this.

I laugh as hard as anyone when I see a stupid skateboarder racking his nuts on a railing, or some guy’s kid hitting him in the crotch with the pinata bat, but...

This isn’t that.


63 posted on 05/16/2016 11:25:51 AM PDT by rlmorel ("Irrational violence against muslims" is a myth, but "Irrational violence against non-muslims" isn't)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Maceman

I know. We all do this kind of thing on occasion, the Internet is rife with it, I’ve done it...poking fun at something like this, but...okay. Enough.

And guys are far worse, even when it is a friend who has been nailed...and even later, when the guy is feeling better, HE laughs about it, then laughs at some poor schlub who gets a line drive in the crotch.

We wince, but we laugh. It is true, and when a guy is rolling on the ground, the other guys kind of gather around him, making little jokes to break things up a bit, until the guy on the ground, his face bathed in sweat, manages to make a humorous remark about it too.

Years later, when having beers, we still laugh uproariously at the memory, the person who took the hit usually the one telling the story.

Sigh. I guess it is just part and parcel of being a guy.


64 posted on 05/16/2016 11:31:12 AM PDT by rlmorel ("Irrational violence against muslims" is a myth, but "Irrational violence against non-muslims" isn't)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel
"If a soldier got his penis blown off by an IED, wouldn’t we be willing as taxpayers, to pay to have something done for the guy?"

Yes IMMIC, their are something like 1600 Vets that are injured in that area and are in the need of successful transplant surgery. I have heard or read at least 2 of these Vets are in the queue for such surgery. If ( and that is a big if ) printing of tissue is making inroads in the medical community, then printing replacement tissue or organs for our Vets is not a bad place to spend medical R & D monies IMHO...

65 posted on 05/16/2016 11:33:57 AM PDT by taildragger (Not my Monkey, not my Circus...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: Maceman

They would have included photos but it was a bit ‘hard on’ the eyes.


66 posted on 05/16/2016 11:38:07 AM PDT by TexasCruzin ( He always hits back.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: TontoKowalski

I always wonder about that. This is important work, all jokes aside. Because it must be horrible for young men in their prime to lose that part of their body.


67 posted on 05/16/2016 11:40:37 AM PDT by proud American in Canada (God bless the United States of America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: TontoKowalski

A penis isn’t any more to their manhood as a tooth or a strand of hair. Their brain is and how they choose to behave is.


68 posted on 05/16/2016 11:46:17 AM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Harmless Teddy Bear
It is like arguing that women who have mastectomies should not have breast reconstruction.

I couldn't care less if I lost a breast. Some fatty flesh doesn't define me.

69 posted on 05/16/2016 11:51:27 AM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: bgill
I couldn't begin to say how traumatizing it may, or may not, be.

I have lived a blessed life in comparison to an Iraq war veteran who has had his penis blown off by a terrorist explosion.

You seem to be an expert on how they feel. Or how they should feel.

70 posted on 05/16/2016 12:15:55 PM PDT by TontoKowalski (You can call me "Dick.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: taildragger

I know we all feel the same about this, it just BURNS MY ASS that that our vets even have to realize that there are tax monies out there being used for “gender assignment surgery” or whatever they call it now, when that money could be used for things like your suggestion.


71 posted on 05/16/2016 12:21:11 PM PDT by rlmorel ("Irrational violence against muslims" is a myth, but "Irrational violence against non-muslims" isn't)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: Maceman

If he plays with it you know another mans wee wee does that make hime gehy?


72 posted on 05/16/2016 12:34:21 PM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom yes I know)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkjessup

you owe me a new monitor and keyboard.. LOL


73 posted on 05/16/2016 12:39:05 PM PDT by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: arl295

Did the patient receive the John Holmes or Pee Wee Herman model?


74 posted on 05/16/2016 12:55:10 PM PDT by PJ-Comix (Tell It, Skinner, about your Clinton Cash Payoff Money)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Maceman

transplant one to Anthony Weiner’s forehead


75 posted on 05/16/2016 1:05:50 PM PDT by LeoWindhorse (America First !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LeoWindhorse

Oh ,wait a minute , he already has one there . It’s his nose.


76 posted on 05/16/2016 1:06:41 PM PDT by LeoWindhorse (America First !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: Opinionated Blowhard

“The most amazing part of this story is that the thread hasn’t been shut down yet.”

They’re waiting for it to get a little longer...


77 posted on 05/16/2016 1:10:13 PM PDT by PLMerite (Compromise is Surrender: The Revolution...will not be kind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Maceman

Dr. Dicken Ko....No. Just can not be.


78 posted on 05/16/2016 1:19:20 PM PDT by Safetgiver (Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkjessup
Another punchline:

Shorty's ESSO Service Center, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Happy Motoring begins at the Esso Sign.

79 posted on 05/16/2016 1:29:01 PM PDT by BatGuano (You don't think I'd go into combat with loose change in my pocket, do ya?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: al baby

80 posted on 05/16/2016 2:09:08 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-87 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson