Did US Surgeons Achieve the World’s First In-Human Bladder Transplant?

New York, May 18 (NationPress) A groundbreaking achievement has been made by a team of US surgeons who successfully conducted the world's inaugural in-human bladder transplant, as announced on Sunday.

Surgeons from Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California and University of California Los Angeles Health executed the operation at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. This significant procedure was a collaborative effort led by Inderbir Gill, the founding executive director of USC Urology, alongside Nima Nassiri, MD, a urologic transplant surgeon and the director of the UCLA Vascularized Composite Bladder Allograft Transplant Program.

“This surgery marks a pivotal moment in the field of medicine and has the potential to transform the treatment of patients with severely symptomatic ‘terminal’ bladders that have ceased to function,” stated Gill.

He further noted, “Transplantation serves as a crucial and life-enhancing solution for numerous conditions affecting vital organs, and now the bladder can be included among them.”

The patient had been reliant on dialysis for seven years, having lost most of his bladder during a cancer resection surgery over five years ago, which left the remaining bladder too small and dysfunctional. Additionally, both of his kidneys were removed due to renal cancer.

“This initial endeavor in bladder transplantation has been in development for over four years,” remarked Nassiri. “For the right patient, it is thrilling to present a new viable option.”

For several years, Nassiri and Gill collaborated at the Keck School to innovate this new surgical technique, formulate a clinical trial, and obtain the required regulatory approvals.

To rectify the patient's deficiencies, Gill and Nassiri performed a joint kidney and bladder transplant, allowing the patient to cease dialysis and produce urine for the first time in seven years. The kidney was transplanted first, followed by the bladder, with the new kidney subsequently connected to the new bladder. The full operation spanned approximately eight hours.

“The kidney promptly generated a significant volume of urine, and the patient’s kidney function showed immediate improvement,” Nassiri noted. “Post-surgery, there was no requirement for dialysis, and urine drained correctly into the new bladder.”

“Despite the intricacies of the procedure, everything unfolded as planned, and the surgery was triumphant,” Gill stated. “The patient is recovering well, and we are pleased with his clinical progress thus far.”