In a world first, a bladder transplant has been performed in the United States.
A first and a success. A patient has benefited, for the first time in the world, from a bladder transplant. He had lost a large part of his bladder during cancer surgery five years ago. Since then, it had stopped functioning properly, and the patient was dependent on dialysis. He had also undergone surgery to remove his kidneys due to another cancer.
After years of research and preparation, surgeons at the University of California (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (USC) successfully transplanted a bladder and a kidney on May 4. "The operation was successful. The patient is doing well," they said in a statement. Following the unprecedented eight-hour surgery, "the kidney immediately produced a large volume of urine, and the patient's kidney function improved immediately. No dialysis was required after the operation, and urine flowed properly into the new bladder," said Dr. Nima Nassiri, one of the two surgeons.
The success of this particularly complex operation, so much so that it had never been performed before, is a medical feat and a source of hope for many patients. This "operation is a historic moment in medicine and will influence the way we treat patients whose bladder is very symptomatic and no longer functions," says Dr. Inderbir Gill, the second surgeon.
Today, severe cases of bladder dysfunction, such as that of the transplant patient, are difficult to treat. Treatment relies on surgery that uses "a portion of the patient's intestine to create a new bladder or urine outlet," the surgeons explain. But these surgeries "carry numerous short- and long-term risks, such as recurring infections, impaired kidney function, and digestive problems," according to Dr. Gill.
Bladder transplantation would thus be a new alternative that could save the lives of these patients. But even if this first transplant was a success, "the procedure naturally involves many unknowns, such as the immediate and long-term functioning of the transplanted bladder and the extent of immunosuppression that will ultimately be necessary," the surgeons point out. An organ transplant requires long-term immunosuppressive treatment, which is not without risk. The Californian surgeons plan to perform additional bladder transplants as part of a clinical trial.
L'Internaute
