Surgeons at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, USA, have successfully performed the world’s first human bladder transplant on a 41-year-old male patient. The patient, who had cancer and subsequently developed end-stage kidney disease, underwent removal of a large portion of his bladder and both kidneys. He had been on dialysis for the past seven years. The surgical team, led by a urologist, transplanted the kidney first, followed by the bladder in an eight-hour procedure.
They connected the kidney to the newly transplanted bladder using a technique they had developed. The Chairperson of the Urology Department praised the urologist for successfully transferring the procedure from the laboratory to a clinical setting. According to the urologist, the surgical team spent four years preparing for the transplantation due to the technical challenges posed by the complex vascular…
