Lessons Learned from Tissue Engineering in Urethral Reconstruction and Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Urogenital diseases, such as hypospadias, incontinence, urethral obstruction, and pelvic organ prolapse, are common conditions that often require treatments at specialized health care providers. All these conditions can have a negative effect on quality of life, but due to issues of taboo and shame, treatment of urogenital disorders has received less attention and has perhaps undergone less development than desirable. Reconstructive surgery of the lower urinary tract is not without complications, and the functional results may be clinically suboptimal and not meeting with patient expectations. Recent advancements in tissue engineering (TE), material sciences, and disease modeling may create new treatment solutions to diseases of the lower urinary tract. To reach constructive advancement of urogenital TE, we created an interdisciplinary network with European scientists, from different backgrounds and research traditions, to identify knowledge gaps and to stimulate further interactions. In this study, we describe the unmet medical need, the advances in new materials and technologies, and the need for preclinical disease models. We concluded that recent developments offer hope for future treatment options, and with this review, we argue that an interdisciplinary network is essential for the transition from bench to bedside. However, for real progress in the field to manifest, we should further integrate patient representatives, as well as representatives of regulatory bodies.