A man in Sweden died just after penis enlargement surgery, according to a new report of the case.
As a part of the procedure, doctors injected fat into the healthy 30-year-old man’s penis, according to the report, written by pathologists who examined the man’s body after his death. Some of this fat entered the man’s veins, and then traveled through the blood to his lungs. When fat droplets enter the small blood vessels in the lungs, they can cause blockages, and the body can’t properly absorb oxygen, leading to death.
This type of blockage, called a fat embolism, is a known risk of moving fat from one part of the body to another, said Dr. Lee Zhao, a urologist at NYU Langone Health in New York City, who was not involved in the man’s case. Still, “it’s an extremely rare event,” Zhao added.