title: Tissue engineering of urinary bladder - current state of art and future perspectives.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tissue engineering and biomaterials science currently offer the technology needed to replace the urinary tract wall. This review addresses current achievements and barriers for the regeneration of the urinary blad- der based on tissue engineering methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medline was search for urinary bladder tissue engineering regenerative medicine and stem cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Numerous studies to develop a substitute for the native urinary bladder wall us- ing the tissue engineering approach are ongoing. Stem cells combined with biomaterials open new treatment methods, including even de novo urinary bladder construction. However, there are still many issues before advances in tissue engineering can be introduced for clinical application.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Before tissue engineering techniques could be recognize as effective and safe for patients, more research stud- ies performed on large animal models and with long follow-up are needed to carry on in the future.
authors.affiliation: Nicolaus Copernicus University, Faculty of Medicine, Department Tissue Engineering, Bydgoszcz, Poland.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adamowicz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kowalczyk
authors.affiliation: Nicolaus Copernicus University, Faculty of Medicine, Department Tissue Engineering, Bydgoszcz, Poland ; Department of Urology Nicolaus Copernicus Hospital, Toruń, Poland.
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Drewa
keywords: bladder regeneration; stem cells; tissue engineering