A groundbreaking bladder transplant has offered new hope to patients suffering from terminal bladder disease, marking a major breakthrough in surgical precision.
The first successful human bladder transplant has offered new hope to patients suffering from terminal bladder disease. Oscar Larrainzar, a 41-year-old patient, received the groundbreaking surgery at the University of Southern California‘s Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on May 4, 2025.
Bladder transplantation is a surgical procedure that involves replacing a non-functioning bladder with a healthy one from a donor.
This rare and complex surgery is typically performed on patients who have end-stage bladder disease, such as interstitial cystitis or bladder cancer.
According to the 'United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)', there are only about 100 bladder transplants performed annually in the US.
The procedure requires a compatible donor match and a highly skilled surgical team.
Recovery time is typically several months, with patients needing to follow a strict post-operative regimen to ensure the new 'bladder' functions properly.
The transplantation process was fraught with technical challenges due to the complex network of blood vessels in the bladder. Surgeons had to navigate deep into the abdomen and reattach delicate blood vessels during the eight-hour surgery. To overcome these hurdles, a team led by Inderbir Singh Gill and Nima Nassiri spent four years researching and perfecting techniques using both open and robotic surgical methods.
The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be approximately 85,000 new cases of bladder cancer in the United States in 2025, resulting in about 17,400 deaths. The current treatment for bladder dysfunction involves replacing or augmenting a urinary reservoir from a portion of the patient’s intestines to create a new bladder or a path for urine to leave the body. However, this procedure comes with significant risks, including ‘infection, internal bleeding, and digestive problems’.
The successful transplant has opened up new possibilities for patients with terminal bladder disease. The medical team reported an immediate improvement after the surgery: the new kidney produced a large amount of urine that drained correctly into the transplanted bladder. As a result, Oscar Larrainzar no longer requires dialysis and has been stable since the procedure.
The success of this transplant has sparked hope for future patients enrolling in clinical trials. The team plans to monitor Oscar Larrainzar‘s health closely to ensure that the new organs are not rejected by the body and to understand the long-term impact of bladder transplantation, including the level of function a transplanted bladder can provide.
- sciencenews.org | It’s tricky to transplant a bladder. How surgeons finally did it
