A top sex-change surgeon says he's gearing up for a radical new procedure — swapping over the genitals of a male and female patient in a single operation, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Dr Miroslav Djordjevic, who works at New York City's Mount Sinai hospital and in his native Serbia, says he's honed his technique for 15 years and is on the cusp of a revolutionary genital-swap procedure.
Still, it remains unclear which trans patients will go under the knife, or where the operation will take place — as experts warn of 'huge risks' in a procedure that could go horribly wrong.
'Now we are in a final step,' Dr Djordjevic said in the latest episode of Doctor Podcasts.
Dr Miroslav Djordjevic says the male-female genitals swap is the 'goal of my career'
'The final approach will be to transplant the penis. This is my main goal, goal of my career. And I hope that this future started yesterday.'
Transgender surgeries, especially those on children and young people, are hugely controversial.
Advocates say they help trans people live as their 'authentic selves,' but critics say the procedures are risky, experimental, lead to recurring problems, and that many people come to regret them.
Surgeons already perform genital reconstruction operations, known as vaginoplasties and phalloplasties.
They involve creating a neo-penis or neo-vagina from flesh on patients' arms, legs, or elsewhere.
For Dr Djordjevic, however, they are wasteful, as a patient's removed sex organ is just 'put in the garbage.'
'I concluded that it may be useful to use these very healthy organs,' he said.
That's why he's honed the technique of switching over the genitals of a biological male and biological female patients in the same procedure, he says.
'This is my main research now,' he said, of work he does at the University of Belgrade, in Serbia.
'It was my vision and my dream, 10-15 years ago.'
Most of his patients are ideal candidates, as they are typically young, healthy and in their early 20s, he added.
Podcast host Dr Robert Cykiert says the groundbreaking operation carries 'very significant high risks.'
It's not clear yet whether Dr Djordjevic will attempt the experimental procedure at Mount Sinai Hospital Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery
In recent years, he said he's successfully transplanted a uterus, ovaries, and testicles into his patients.
'From all of these three transplantations, we had a delivery. That is very good result,' he said.
He spoke in the podcast about the procedure alongside other experts in trans medicine.
They were Mount Sinai's Dr John Steever, an expert in giving puberty blockers to trans youth, and Marci Bowers, the trans male-to-female gynecologist who heads the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.
Podcast host Dr Robert Cykiert told DailyMail.com that the genital swap would mark a 'major breakthrough' in trans medicine.
'Till now, people who had this surgery would modify their genitalia and sex organs by using skin and muscle tissue transplants derived from their forearms and other body parts,' said Dr Cykiert.
But, he added, the new procedure carries 'very significant high risks for the patients who are trading their genitalia.'
'Just like kidney, heart, liver and face transplants, patients who have intersex genital transplants would be at extremely high risk of rejecting their new sexual organs,' said Dr Cykiert.
To avoid this, they would need to go on 'long term immunosuppressive medications,' he added.
'These medications put patients at high risk of getting severe infections, cancers of various types, and other serious, chronic medical problems,' he said.
Mount Sinai and the University of Belgrade did not immediately answer DailyMail.com's request for comment.
But Mount Sinai's Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery says on its website that Dr Djordjevic and his colleagues are experts in their field.
'The physicians have experience with over 2,000 genital transgender surgeries that informs their care of each new patient,' says Mount Sinai's website.
Dr Djordjevic is not the first sex-reassignment surgeon to face scrutiny for his pioneering work.
Earlier this year, Dr Blair Peters, of Oregon Health and Science University, in a video candidly revealed the downsides of the genital re-shaping surgeries he regularly performed on trans kids and adults
Dr Peters, a self-described 'queer surgeon' with 'he/they' pronouns, pink hair and a 'passion' for genital surgeries, said patients faced fertility, sexual pleasure and other lifelong post-op complications.
Critics likened him to the fictional monster-builder, Dr Frankenstein, and he was lambasted in a congressional hearing.
Meanwhile, experts increasingly call transgender medicine into question.
One of the first studies into the side effects of trans surgeries this year revealed alarmingly high rates of post-op pain, aching during intercourse, and bladder problems, raising troubling questions for this new frontier of medicine.
A huge majority — 81 percent — of those who had gender-affirming surgery in the past five years said they endured pain simply from moving around in the weeks and months after going under the knife.
Researchers from the University of Florida and Brooks Rehabilitation, a health non-profit, showed that more than half of trans surgery patients endured pain during sex, and nearly a third could not control their bladders.
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Dr Miroslav Djordjevic, who works at New York City's Mount Sinai hospital and in his native Serbia, says he's honed his technique for 15 years and is on the cusp of a revolutionary genital-swap procedure.
Still, it remains unclear which trans patients will go under the knife, or where the operation will take place — as experts warn of 'huge risks' in a procedure that could go horribly wrong.
'Now we are in a final step,' Dr Djordjevic said in the latest episode of Doctor Podcasts.
Dr Miroslav Djordjevic says the male-female genitals swap is the 'goal of my career'
'The final approach will be to transplant the penis. This is my main goal, goal of my career. And I hope that this future started yesterday.'
Transgender surgeries, especially those on children and young people, are hugely controversial.
Advocates say they help trans people live as their 'authentic selves,' but critics say the procedures are risky, experimental, lead to recurring problems, and that many people come to regret them.
Surgeons already perform genital reconstruction operations, known as vaginoplasties and phalloplasties.
They involve creating a neo-penis or neo-vagina from flesh on patients' arms, legs, or elsewhere.
For Dr Djordjevic, however, they are wasteful, as a patient's removed sex organ is just 'put in the garbage.'
'I concluded that it may be useful to use these very healthy organs,' he said.
That's why he's honed the technique of switching over the genitals of a biological male and biological female patients in the same procedure, he says.
'This is my main research now,' he said, of work he does at the University of Belgrade, in Serbia.
'It was my vision and my dream, 10-15 years ago.'
Most of his patients are ideal candidates, as they are typically young, healthy and in their early 20s, he added.
Podcast host Dr Robert Cykiert says the groundbreaking operation carries 'very significant high risks.'
It's not clear yet whether Dr Djordjevic will attempt the experimental procedure at Mount Sinai Hospital Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery
In recent years, he said he's successfully transplanted a uterus, ovaries, and testicles into his patients.
'From all of these three transplantations, we had a delivery. That is very good result,' he said.
He spoke in the podcast about the procedure alongside other experts in trans medicine.
They were Mount Sinai's Dr John Steever, an expert in giving puberty blockers to trans youth, and Marci Bowers, the trans male-to-female gynecologist who heads the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.
Podcast host Dr Robert Cykiert told DailyMail.com that the genital swap would mark a 'major breakthrough' in trans medicine.
'Till now, people who had this surgery would modify their genitalia and sex organs by using skin and muscle tissue transplants derived from their forearms and other body parts,' said Dr Cykiert.
But, he added, the new procedure carries 'very significant high risks for the patients who are trading their genitalia.'
'Just like kidney, heart, liver and face transplants, patients who have intersex genital transplants would be at extremely high risk of rejecting their new sexual organs,' said Dr Cykiert.
To avoid this, they would need to go on 'long term immunosuppressive medications,' he added.
'These medications put patients at high risk of getting severe infections, cancers of various types, and other serious, chronic medical problems,' he said.
Mount Sinai and the University of Belgrade did not immediately answer DailyMail.com's request for comment.
But Mount Sinai's Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery says on its website that Dr Djordjevic and his colleagues are experts in their field.
'The physicians have experience with over 2,000 genital transgender surgeries that informs their care of each new patient,' says Mount Sinai's website.
Dr Djordjevic is not the first sex-reassignment surgeon to face scrutiny for his pioneering work.
Earlier this year, Dr Blair Peters, of Oregon Health and Science University, in a video candidly revealed the downsides of the genital re-shaping surgeries he regularly performed on trans kids and adults
Dr Peters, a self-described 'queer surgeon' with 'he/they' pronouns, pink hair and a 'passion' for genital surgeries, said patients faced fertility, sexual pleasure and other lifelong post-op complications.
Critics likened him to the fictional monster-builder, Dr Frankenstein, and he was lambasted in a congressional hearing.
Meanwhile, experts increasingly call transgender medicine into question.
One of the first studies into the side effects of trans surgeries this year revealed alarmingly high rates of post-op pain, aching during intercourse, and bladder problems, raising troubling questions for this new frontier of medicine.
A huge majority — 81 percent — of those who had gender-affirming surgery in the past five years said they endured pain simply from moving around in the weeks and months after going under the knife.
Researchers from the University of Florida and Brooks Rehabilitation, a health non-profit, showed that more than half of trans surgery patients endured pain during sex, and nearly a third could not control their bladders.
s/a
