Prosthetic Considerations in Neophallic Reconstruction
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Abstract
Purpose of Review
Phalloplasty may be performed in patients with acquired or congenital penile insufficiency or transgender individuals who desire phallic construction. Demand for neophallus creation and prosthesis placement has increased in recent years with growing coverage for gender affirming surgery among transgender patients. This report describes consideration of prosthetic implantation in neophallic reconstruction.
Recent Findings
Prosthesis implantation in a neophallus requires special consideration regarding avoidance of critical structures, proximal prosthesis anchoring, and distal cushioning in patients without native corpora cavernosa. Neophallus prostheses are associated with increased risk of infection, extrusion, erosion, and device migration relative to standard prostheses, with a high revision rate.
Summary
Implanters should have a thorough understanding of neophallic reconstructive technique prior to proceeding with device placement. Current literature on this subject consists predominantly of retrospective reviews and case reports with variable outcome measures. The creation of validated assessment tools will provide more meaningful data to inform provider counseling and patient expectations.
Keywords
Penile prosthesis Penile implantation Reconstructive surgical procedures Penis/surgery Transgender persons Gender reassignment surgeryNotes
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of Interest
Geolani W. Dy and Aaron Weinberg declare no potential conflicts of interest.
Lee C. Zhao reports grants and personal fees from Boston Scientific and grants from Coloplast outside the submitted work.
Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent
All reported studies/experiments with human or animal subjects performed by the authors have been previously published and complied with all applicable ethical standards (including the Helsinki declaration and its amendments, institutional/national research committee standards, and international/national/institutional guidelines).
References
Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance
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