Billy, after reading the following news article, you might want to consider leaving behind a "little" piece of yourself; this gesture will remind all of us that you were indeed a prick.
Wednesday November 4 12:25 AM EDT
Italy Doctor Seeks World's First Penis Transplant
By Philip Pullella
ROME (Reuters) - A leading Italian plastic surgeon who has asked health officials for permission to carry out the world's first penis transplant said Tuesday that he already had three patients ready to undergo the operation.
''This is not like the Bobbit case, where his penis was e-implanted,'' Professor Nicolo Scuderi said referring to the famous case of John Wayne Bobbit, whose penis was re-attached in 1993 after his wife had cut it off.
''This would be the first time a penis is transplanted from one body to another, whether it be from a living body or a corpse,'' he told Reuters in an interview in his office at Rome's Umberto I hospital, Italy's largest.
''Technically this would not be a very complicated operation...a transplant is easier than re-attachment,'' he said.
But Scuderi said it was not clear if a person who received a transplanted penis would be able to have an erection.
Scuderi made headlines Tuesday when a Rome newspaper first reported his recent request to the health ministry.
He said he was spurred to make the request after French doctors performed their own surgical first when they transplanted an arm and a hand to an amputee.
Three people have told Scuderi they would be willing to undergo the operation.
Two are women who have received legal permission to undergo sex change operations and would receive transplanted penises.
He said the third is a Mr. Metals who had had his penis amputated in a sex change operation to become a woman but has since ''realized it was a mistake'' and wants to return to being a man, Scuderi said.
Scuderi's surgical team already carries out penis reconstruction surgery for sex change operations and amputee cases, including those where penises have to be cut off because of cancer. This is usually done by using forearm muscles.
''We are ready. We are just waiting for the OK,'' he said.
The penis transplant operations could take place by twinning sex-change patients. A man who wanted to become a woman could donate his penis to a woman who wanted to become a man.
He said penises could also be donated by clinically dead patients on life-support equipment, which is a main source of other transplant organs such as hearts, lungs and livers.
''We can restore vascularity, we can restore sensitivity to the organ but we don't know how much sensitivity and function will be regained,'' he said.
Scuderi said whether a patient who received a transplanted organ could have an erection was still an unanswered question.
''This is a main concern, a main question and maybe the answer will only be possible after the surgery,'' he said, adding that there could be large variations in the results.
Scuderi acknowledged that ethical questions would have to be addressed, particularly if the risks involved, including immunological ones, could be justified since the penis was not a vital organ.
''Plastic surgery always favors innovation and breaking new frontiers. I don't think that I am the only one that wants to do this type of surgery, I just want to be sure that this type of surgery will
benefit the patient,'' he said.
''I don't want only to be the first one. The important thing is to see if the (health ministry) ethical committee will allow this operation. I asked for the ministry's consent because I want to be sure that it is the best thing to do,'' he said.
Scuderi said that at least at the beginning he would turn down any eventual requests from men who wanted to receive a transplanted organ larger than their natural one.
''For the moment the answer is 'no' because the surgery is very complicated and very risky surgery. It's not an aesthetic procedure,'' he said.
dailynews.yahoo.com.
LOL!
purething
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