Maimed US veteran receives historic penis transplant

WASHINGTON — A Baltimore hospital says a wounded U.S. veteran has received the world’s most extensive penis transplant.

Doctors at Johns Hopkins University say the transplant included the scrotum and part of the abdominal wall. They say the patient had the highly experimental transplant last month in a 14-hour operation. They say he is recovering well, and expected to leave the hospital later this week.

The patient, who asked not to be identified, had survived a blast in Afghanistan a few years ago that devastated his groin and pelvic region.

Three other successful penis transplants have been performed, two in South Africa and one in 2016 at Massachusetts General Hospital. But those transplants involved only the penis, not extensive surrounding tissue that makes such surgery for combat wounds more difficult.