World first: successful human bladder transplant in the United States

The beneficiary was Oscar Larrainzar, a 41-year-old father who has been on dialysis for seven years. He had to have a large part of his bladder removed several years ago due to cancer and then had both of his kidneys removed, UCLA, one of the two California universities involved, explained in a statement Sunday.

Oscar Larrainzar received a bladder and a kidney—from the same donor—during the approximately eight-hour operation, which took place in early May at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. "The surgeons first transplanted the kidney, then the bladder, and then connected the kidney to the new bladder using a technique they developed," the university said.

With almost instantaneous encouraging results, according to one of the surgeons, Dr. Nima Nassiri: "The kidney immediately produced a large volume of urine and the patient's kidney function immediately improved," he said in a statement.

"This surgery represents a historic moment in medicine and could transform the treatment of patients."

"No dialysis was required after the operation, and urine flowed properly into the new bladder." "This surgery represents a historic moment in medicine and could transform the treatment of patients" with bladders that "no longer function," insisted Inderbir Gill, who co-led the operation.

Bladder transplants were previously considered too complex, due in part to difficulties accessing the area and its vascularization. Patients were therefore only offered artificial bladder reconstruction using a digestive tract or the insertion of a stoma bag, an external prosthesis capable of collecting their urine. These procedures were "effective" but carried "numerous short- and long-term risks," according to Inderbir Gill.