The two main methods for replacing bladder function involve either redirecting urine flow or replacing the bladder ''in situ''. Replacement can be done with an artificial urinary bladder, an

artificial organ An artificial organ is a human-made organ device or Tissue (biology), tissue that is Implant (medicine), implanted or integrated into a humaninterfacing with living tissueto replace a natural Organ (anatomy), organ, to duplicate or augment a spec ...

Development

On January 30, 1999, scientists announced that lab-grown bladders 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 The small intestine or small bowel is an organ (anatomy), organ in the human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract where most of the #Absorption, absorption of nutrients from food takes place. It lies between the stomach and large intes ...

to form a new bladder; however, these bladders made of intestinal tissues produced unpleasant side-effects. The current standard for repairing a damaged

urinary bladder The bladder () is a hollow organ in humans and other vertebrates that stores urine from the Kidney (vertebrates), kidneys. In placental mammals, urine enters the bladder via the ureters and exits via the urethra during urination. In humans, the ...

involves partial or complete replacement using tissue from the small intestine. In 2006, the first publication of experimental transplantation of bioengineered bladders appeared in ''The Lancet''. * The trial involved seven people with

spina bifida Spina bifida (SB; ; Latin for 'split spine') is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the vertebral column, spine and the meninges, membranes around the spinal cord during embryonic development, early development in pregnancy. T ...

between the ages of four and nineteen who had been followed for up to five years after surgery to determine long-term effects. The bladders were prepared and the trial run by a team of biologists at the

Wake Forest University School of Medicine Wake Forest University School of Medicine is the medical school of Wake Forest University, with two campuses located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with Atrium Health Wake Forest ...

and

Boston Children's Hospital Boston Children's Hospital (formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2013) is the main pediatric training and research hospital of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University. It is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children ...

led by Professor

Anthony Atala Anthony Atala (born July 14, 1958) is an American bioengineer, urologist, and pediatric surgeon. He is the W.H. Boyce professor of urology, the founding director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and the chair of the De ...

. Bioengineered organs which rely on a patient's own cells,

autologous Autotransplantation is the transplantation of organs, tissues, or even particular proteins from one part of the body to another in the same person ('' auto-'' meaning "self" in Greek). The autologous tissue (also called autogenous, autogenei ...

constructs, are not subject to

transplant rejection Transplant rejection occurs when transplanted tissue is rejected by the recipient's immune system, which destroys the transplanted tissue. Transplant rejection can be lessened by determining the molecular similitude between donor and recipien ...

, unlike transplants from human or animal donors.

References

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External links

Doctors Create Re-Engineered Bladders
(

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

, 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.

Bladder The bladder () is a hollow organ in humans and other vertebrates that stores urine from the kidneys. In placental mammals, urine enters the bladder via the ureters and exits via the urethra during urination. In humans, the bladder is a distens ...

Implants (medicine)

Urinary bladder Urologic procedures