Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine in Pediatric Urology: Urethral and Urinary Bladder Reconstruction

In the case of pediatric urology there are several congenital conditions, such as hypospadias and neurogenic bladder, which affect, respectively, the urethra and the urinary bladder. In fact, the gold standard consists of a urethroplasty procedure in the case of urethral malformations and enterocystoplasty in the case of urinary bladder disorders. However, both surgical procedures are associated with severe complications, such as fistulas, urethral strictures, and dehiscence of the repair or recurrence of chordee in the case of urethroplasty, and metabolic disturbances, stone formation, urine leakage, and chronic infections in the case of enterocystoplasty. With the aim of overcoming the issue related to the lack of sufficient and appropriate autologous tissue, increasing attention has been focused on tissue engineering. In this review, both the urethral and the urinary bladder reconstruction strategies were summarized, focusing on pediatric applications and evaluating all the biomaterials tested in both animal models and patients. Particular attention was paid to the capability for tissue regeneration in dependence on the eventual presence of seeded cell and growth factor combinations in several types of scaffolds. Moreover, the main critical features needed for urinary tissue engineering have been highlighted and specifically focused on for pediatric application.