Artificial urinary conduit construction using tissue engineering methods

INTRODUCTION Incontinent urinary diversion using an ileal conduit is the most popular method used by urologists after bladder cystectomy resulting from muscle invasive bladder cancer. The use of gastrointestinal tissue is related to a series of complications with the necessity of surgical procedure extension which increases the time of surgery. Regenerative medicine together with tissue engineering techniques gives hope for artificial urinary conduit construction de novo without affecting the ileum. MATERIAL AND METHODS In this review we analyzed history of urinary diversion together with current attempts in urinary conduit construction using tissue engineering methods. Based on literature and our own experience we presented future perspectives related to the artificial urinary conduit construction. RESULTS A small number of papers in the field of tissue engineered urinary conduit construction indicates that this topic requires more attention. Three main factors can be distinguished to resolve this topic: proper scaffold construction along with proper regeneration of both the urothelium and smooth muscle layers. CONCLUSIONS Artificial urinary conduit has a great chance to become the first commercially available product in urology constructed by regenerative medicine methods.