Tissue engineering in urology

Techniques that are aimed at regeneration of human tissues and organs (tissue engineering) have recently entered into clinical practice. Tissue engineering is currently among the fastest growing areas in medicine, and involves the application of the principles of biology and engineering to the development of functional substitutes for damaged tissues. One of the main limitations of reconstructive surgery in the genitourinary tract is the lack of autologous tissue. This could be changed by the ability to cultivate the patient's own tissues in vitro, or by stimulating the cells in vivo into regeneration of new tissues. The present review discusses how tissue engineering can be used to regenerate some of the tissues of the genitourinary tract. Even though these methods have only recently been introduced clinically into genitourinary medicine, numerous scientific studies have been reported that indicate that these techniques may be of great importance in the near future.