Tissue Engineering in Vesical Reconstruction

Objectives: This review summarizes the basic principles of tissue engineering (TE) and describes the possible future clinical application in bladder reconstruction. Material and Methods: This review is based on an electronic search of the PubMed database and recently published presentations between November 2008 and May 2009 about basic research on TE and vesical reconstruction. Results: Few articles (about 30) described bladder reconstruction utilizing TE approaches, most being reviews, with 8 experimental animals studies, and only one study in human subjects. Conclusion: Despite the fact that TE is a recently developed field and remains largely experimental, it promises to influence urological treatment in the near future. One can predict that some form of engineered urothelial tissue will enter the clinical domain within the next 5 to 10 years.