Tissue Engineered Bladder

For patients with bladder disease, one of the only treatment options was the replacement of bladder tissue with intestinal tissue. Side effects of that procedure include colon cancer and infection, because the intestinal tissue is designed to absorb water rather than release water. Another option is to tissue-engineer a new bladder from cells. At Wake Forest University, doctors took a biopsy of the bladder and seeded the cells into a scaffold made of synthetic polymer. The synthetic polymer scaffold is designed to fit the patient and mimic the collagen that exists in the natural bladder. After seven weeks in an incubator, the cells colonized and the bladder was implanted about the existing bladder, where it would continue to grow and improve existing bladder function. While the procedure is still experimental and cannot repair nerve damage, it tremendously improves the lives of bladder disease patients.

Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/03/AR2006040301387.html

http://news.healingwell.com/index.php?p=news1&id=531931