[Progress in the treatment of penile defect]

As the important external genitalia of males, penis has the functions of both urination and copulation. Battle wound, other trauma, and some diseases such as penile cancer can result in total and partial penile defect, which has great impact on the sufferers' mind and life. Therefore, the treatment of penile defect is receiving more and more importance from both the patients and doctors. The ideal treatment is expected to achieve a satisfactory appearance, unobstructed standing urination and successful copulation. Nowadays, the main clinical techniques for the treatment of penile defect include penile replantation, penile lengthening, and penile reconstruction. The progress made in transplantation immunity, tissue matching, immunosuppressive agents, and long-term surviving of animal allograft limb transplantation has prepared a firm ground for human penile allograft. The construction of penile tissues by tissue engineering techniques is still at the experimental stage. It would be a valuable research how to assimilate the constructed and autologous tissues in clinical practice so as to achieve better function and appearance of the penis.