World's First Penis Transplant Hailed a Success by Chinese Doctors

BEIJING — Doctors in China who carried out the world's first penis transplant claim that the operation was a success even though the organ had to be removed two weeks later.

A 44-year-old father of three children was left with a 0.4-inch stump and was unable to urinate or have intercourse after being involved in a car accident. Surgeons at Guangzhou General Hospital, in China, spent 15 hours attaching a 4-inch organ taken from a brain-dead 22-year-old man after his parents gave their consent.

The surgical team claimed that, after 10 days, blood was flowing into the transplanted penis, that the patient's body showed no sign of rejecting it, and that the man was able to urinate normally.

However, in next month's issue of the journal European Urology, they report that they had to remove the organ because of "a severe psychological problem of the recipient and his wife."

Dr. Weilie Hu, one of the surgeons involved in the operation, writes: "The recipient could urinate smoothly in a standing position at day 10 after removal of the catheter."

Doctors have previously reconnected severed penises after accidents or attacks, but this was thought to be the first time that surgeons had claimed a successful transplant. Local press referred to the man by the pseudonym Zhang and said he was able to sustain an erection immediately after the operation, which took place a year ago. The operation was said to have cost $6,500.

Many transplants in China involve the use of organs removed from executed prisoners, but the specific circumstances of the donor in this case are not known.