The most obvious home function we associate with the bladder is plumbing. But transplanting a bladder is much more complex than reconnecting a replacement to existing pipes. It also requires attaching the organ to a complex network of veins located deep within the pelvic cavity. Then there’s the possibility of rejection by the immune system.
But a team of surgeons overcame these obstacles in the first-ever whole in-human bladder transplant. More accurately, it was a kidney-and-bladder transplant, since the patient had lost those organs, too, following cancer. Because he was already on immunosuppressive drugs, that reduced at least one risk. But the surgery itself was far from straightforward.
“This first attempt at bladder transplantation has been over four years in the making,” surgeon Nima Nassiri said in a press release. “For the appropriately selected patient, it is exciting to be able to offer a new potential option.”
