In a uniques case, a man's severed penis was reattached by UK surgeons and the success of the surgery even made him able to have erections. The man's penis was reimplanted in about a day after it was cut off and it goes down as the longest documented time the organ has been without a blood supply. However, the surgery was a success and about after Six weeks after the operation, the man got the sensation to his penis and because of the reattached artery and vein, the patient able to achieve a full erection.

The surgeons from the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust wrote in the case report, "The success of this case, therefore, should encourage surgeons to attempt penile replantation, even with prolonged ischaemia [loss of blood supply] time, due to possible success and the potential physical and psychosocial effects of organ loss for the patient".

Know More Penile Reattachment or Replantation

With penile reattachment or replantation surgeries, genitals of men that are severed off for some reason can be reattached to the body. It is even possible to attach the veins and arteries of the organ, although the procedure is extremely rare. It is said that only a hundred cases have been recorded in medical history. However, time is the key here. While the above-mentioned case was the longest an organ has been without blood supply it is important to quickly to give the replanted tissue the best chance of survival. The emergency procedure requires intricate microsurgery and expert advice by urological and plastic surgeons

In January 2011, a 51-year-old paranoid schizophrenic with a self-inflicted penile amputation came to the emergency department in Kelowna, British Columbia. On arrival, the patient was questioned about this history which revealed that he had swallowed his amputated penis. Within roughly 1 hour of ingestion, the gastroenterology service performed an endoscopic retrieval of the penis from the patient’s stomach. He impressively reported having erections following repair, though he suffered from low libido secondary to anti-psychotic medications. He initially had some distal penile numbness as well, which also slowly improved with time.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 02, 2020 12:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).