A 64-year-old Massachusetts General patient became the first male in the U.S. to undergo penile transplant surgery.

Thomas Manning underwent the 15-hour surgery on May 8, where the organs of a deceased individual were used. He is now expected to have normal urinary function within weeks and renewed sexual function is as little as a few months.

A cancer sufferer, the procedure left Manning as the third individual worldwide to have undergone the surgery.

Genital Amputations, Injuries on the Rise

Doctors at Mass General indicated in recent times they have come to see an increasing need for such a procedure among their patients, mainly those who have experienced genital amputations or injuries.

"These patients ended up with catheters, they lost all sexual function, and ultimately they kind of lost a sense of who they were as individuals," said urologist Dickens S.C. Ko, a member of Manning's surgical team.

Known as vascularized composite allotransplantaation (VCA), the complex forms of surgery are designed to connect types of tissues similar to what's done in hand and face transplants.

"Helping them be able to get up and go to the bathroom every morning by giving them a catheter is one thing," Ko said. "But it isn't necessarily the best we can do for them. If we can help them look in the mirror and say, 'Yeah, I'm doing all right,' that's what we want to do."

Across the world, the surgery has now been performed three times, including in South Africa, where the overwhelming cause has been found to be injuries suffered by men undergoing a ritual of adult circumcision.

Here in the U.S., it's widely assumed that troops suffering from genital injuries coming in explosions of some sort will be the primary patient base. John Hopkins University recently announced plans to perform such a procedure on a soldier and is reported to have a list of vets on a waiting list.

Patient Base for Procedure Could Grow

Researchers are also hopeful that the procedure will ultimately become an option for transgender males in aiding them gain more natural urinary and sexual function.

"Today I begin a new chapter filled with personal hope and hope for others who have suffered genital injuries, particularly for our service members who put their lives on the line and suffer serious damage as a result," Manning wrote in a statement. "In sharing this success with all of you, it's my hope we can usher in a bright future for this type of transplantation."

Doctors will now closely monitor his progress to make certain his body doesn't come to reject the organ and he is prescribed the proper medications.

Before undergoing the procedure, Manning was under physicians care for more than three years and there were at least seven surgeons and seven residents in the operating room with him once the surgery officially commenced.