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jake-head-shot.jpgJake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in NYC getting a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience. He holds a BS and MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. If a volcano were to erupt Pompei-style in Central Park, his body would be preserved in a scoliotic posture over his lab desk. Archeaologists would later conclude that he spent most of his day training rats to perform tricks, until he went blind building electrical equipment by hand using a dissecting microscope. But, still, he died happy...because science is cool.

Pure Pedantry is a blog about science -- social sciences and otherwise -- as well as academic and scientific culture. No one can live on science alone, so I also like to dwell on pop culture, periodically explore the humanities, and indulge in other types of geeky goodness.

DISCLAIMERS: 1) Jake Young is not a licensed physician (yet). He is merely a medical student. The information published on this site is not intended for use in medical decision-making. Please seek advice from a licensed, medical professional before making any health decisions. 2) The opinions expressed are my own. They do not represent the views of SEED magazine or the educational establishments I currently attend or attended in the past.

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Penis Transplant Rejected (Psychologically By Wife)

Posted on: September 19, 2006 4:02 PM, by NotoriousLTP

I feel really bad for this guy:

Surgeons in China who said they performed the first successful penis transplant had to remove the donated organ because of the severe psychological problems it caused to the recipient and his wife.

Dr Weilie Hu and surgeons at Guangzhou General Hospital in China performed the complex 15-hour surgery on a 44-year old man whose penis had been damaged in a traumatic accident.

The microsurgery to attach the penis, which had been donated by the parents of a 22-year-old brain-dead man, was successful but Hu and his team removed it two weeks later.

"Because of a severe psychological problem of the recipient and his wife, the transplanted penis regretfully had to be cut off," Hu said in a report published online by the peer reviewed journal European Urology, without elaborating.

"This is the first reported case of penile transplantation in a human," Hu added.

Both the man and his wife had requested the surgery. He had been unable to have intercourse or urinate properly since the accident that occurred 8 months before the surgery was performed.

Ten days after the operation, which had been approved by the hospital's medical ethical committee, the recipient had been able to urinate.

There had been no signs of the 10-centimetre (4-inch) organ being rejected by the recipient's body. But Hu said more cases and longer observation are needed to determine whether sexual sensation and function can be restored.

"The patient finally decided to give up the treatment because of the wife's psychological rejection, as well as the swollen shape of the transplanted penis" Hu added.

That sucks. First the poor guy loses his penis. Then he gets a new penis. Then his wife says she doesn't like the new penis. Then he has to lose it again. Women suck.

I am reluctant to be flippant about this but do you think this gives one the capacity for upgrades?

Comments

1

"Psychological rejection?" What does that even mean? Did the new penis make the wife feel like was sleeping with someone other than her husband? Isn't a foreign, possibly misshapen penis better than no penis at all? *Shrugs*

Posted by: Dave Carlson | September 19, 2006 9:30 PM

2

"Women Suck" huh? Golly, how enlightened of you, Misogynist-lad. I hope to Gods you aren't going into general practice, internal medicine, or any other field in which some of your patients will be we "sucky" women, otherwise I see malpractice prosecutions and jail time in your future...

Posted by: Ann Lowenstein | September 25, 2006 3:15 AM

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