Top 5 World's First Transplant Surgeries Done in 2015

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Transplant surgeries are life-saving medical procedures that give an ill patient another chance at life by receiving a replacement organ from a donor. Modern medicine has made great strides with numerous transplant surgeries that have only been done this year.

Here are top 5 of this year's first transplant surgeries in the world:

1.)Skull and scalp transplant

Jim Boysen, 55, received the world's first skull and scalp transplant surgery from a human donor after suffering a large head wound following cancer treatment. Huffington Post reports that he got his treatment and surgery done by doctors of Houston Methodist Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

This isn't the first time that Boysen had transplant; in fact, he had his kidney and pancreas replaced in 1992 to treat childhood diabetes. His organ prevention drug raised his risk of cancer and therefore, he developed a rare leiomyosarcoma to which he got radiation therapy for. The treatment eroded some of this skull and scalp, but the immunosuppression drugs he is taking did not allow his body to heal. The successful operation lasted 15 hours.

2.) Full facial transplant

Patrick Hardison, 41, had a full face transplant surgery at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. His entire face was severely burned working as a volunteer firefighter in 2001.

Before the surgery, Hardison's face and scalp were scarred and he lived in pain and near blindness because of burnt eyelids. The successful face transplant allowed him to blink and see normally again. CBS News reported in August that Hardison is recovering well.

3.) Functional penis transplant

While the unnamed patient isn't the first to receive a penis transplant in the world, he is however, the first to have positive long-term results. The 21-year-old was operated on by South African doctors at the Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town after the patient lost his penis after a circumcision gone wrong during a traditional ceremony.

The surgery proved to be successful as the man's recovery allowed him to have normal urinary and reproductive functions, Medical Xpress reports.

4.) Double hand transplant

The first patient who underwent the world's first double hand transplant is an eight-year-old boy named Zion Harvey. According to Today, he lost his arms and legs after an infection when he was younger.

The successful transplant surgery lasted for 11 hours. He undergoes numerous physical and occupational therapy and will have full use of his hands in two years.

5.) Uterus transplant

The 14-hour surgery was done on a 22-year-old patient named Yang Hua in China. The donor was the patient's 43-year-old mother who donated her ovary to her daughter after it was learned that she was born without a uterus.

According to Food World News, this is not the first uterus transplant in the world but it is the first robot-assisted one that has been successful thus far.