Artificial urinary bladder

On January 30, 1999, scientists announced that a lab-grown bladder had been successfully transplanted into dogs. These artificial bladders worked well for almost a year in the dogs. In 2000, a new procedure for creating artificial bladders for humans was developed. This procedure is called an orthotopic neobladder procedure. This procedure involves shaping a part (usually 35 to 40 inches) of a patient's small intestine to form a new bladder; however, these bladders made of intestinal tissues produced unpleasant side-effects.

In 2006, the first publication of experimental transplantation of bioengineered bladders appeared in The Lancet.[2] The trial involved seven people with spina bifida between the ages of four and nineteen who had been followed for up to five years after surgery to determine long-term effects.[2] The bladders were prepared and the trial run by a team of biologists at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Boston Children's Hospital led by Professor Anthony Atala.[2]

Bioengineered organs which rely on a patient's own cells, autologous constructs, are not subject to transplant rejection, unlike transplants from human or animal donors.

The current standard for repairing a damaged urinary bladder involves partial or complete replacement using tissue from the small intestine.[1]

• Doctors Create Re-Engineered Bladders (Voice of America, 5 April 2006)
• Artificial bladder being developed by James J. Yoo M.D., Ph.D.at the Department of Urology at Harvard Medical School.- non-biological artificial bladder.