The first human bladder transplant

Overview

On May 4, 2025, surgeons at UCLA performed the first successful human bladder transplant. Oscar Larrainzar, a 41-year-old father of four who'd spent seven years on dialysis after losing his bladder and both kidneys to cancer, received both organs in an eight-hour procedure. The kidney started producing urine immediately. Two days after going home, Larrainzar urinated on his own for the first time in seven years.

In This Story

4 People

3 Orgs

Bladder Transplants Become Standard of Care for Terminal Bladder Disease

3 Context

First Successful Kidney Transplant (1954)

Key Indicators

8 hours

Surgery duration

Combined kidney-bladder transplant procedure time

7 years

On dialysis

Larrainzar's wait before transplant eligibility

4+ years

Research phase

From first pig studies to human procedure

5 organs

Donor gift

Amanda Cordier donated kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, and bladder

1st

In human history

First successful bladder transplant ever performed

Interactive

Exploring all sides of a story is often best achieved with Play.

Ever wondered what historical figures would say about today's headlines?

Debate Arena

Two rounds, two personas, one winner. You set the crossfire.

People Involved

Dr. Nima Nassiri

Lead Surgeon, Director of UCLA Vascularized Composite Bladder Allograft Transplant Program (Leading ongoing clinical trial at UCLA)

Dr. Inderbir S. Gill

Chairman of Urology at USC, Executive Director of USC Institute of Urology (Co-developer of bladder transplant technique)

Oscar Larrainzar

First bladder transplant recipient (Recovering successfully, off dialysis)

Amanda Cordier

Organ donor who made the first bladder transplant possible (Deceased; saved five lives through donation)

Organizations Involved

UCLA Health

Academic Medical Center

Status: Conducting ongoing bladder transplant clinical trial

One of the nation's top-ranked hospitals, home to the world's first bladder transplant program.

USC Keck Medicine / USC Institute of Urology

Academic Medical Center

Status: Running parallel bladder transplant clinical trial

USC's urology institute pioneered the preclinical research for bladder transplantation.

OneLegacy

Organ Procurement Organization

Status: Coordinated first bladder transplant donation

The largest organ procurement organization in the U.S., serving 20 million people across Southern California.

Timeline

OneLegacy Honors Amanda Cordier
Commemoration

OneLegacy publicly recognizes Amanda Cordier's organ donation that enabled the historic transplant.
June 9th, 2025
Success Announced Publicly
Announcement

UCLA and USC announce successful first human bladder transplant to scientific and medical communities.
May 19th, 2025
First Independent Urination in Seven Years
Medical

Larrainzar urinates on his own for first time since 2018, marking successful bladder function restoration.
May 8th, 2025
Patient Discharged from Hospital
Medical

Larrainzar leaves hospital two days after surgery with stable condition and functioning organs.
May 6th, 2025
First Human Bladder Transplant
Surgery

Eight-hour surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center successfully transplants bladder and kidney to Oscar Larrainzar.
May 4th, 2025
Kidney Function Restored Immediately
Medical

New kidney produces large urine volume immediately; patient requires no dialysis post-surgery; urine drains properly into new bladder.
May 4th, 2025
Amanda Cordier's Organs Matched
Donation

OneLegacy matches Amanda Cordier's organs to five recipients, including Oscar Larrainzar for bladder-kidney transplant.
May 3rd, 2025
Clinical Trials Launch
Clinical Trial

UCLA (NCT06337942) and USC (NCT05462561) launch parallel clinical trials enrolling patients for bladder or kidney-bladder transplants.
April 1st, 2025
Brain-Dead Donor Trials Completed
Research

Five successful robotic bladder transplantations performed in heart-beating brain-dead research donors at USC facilities.
January 1st, 2024
Cadaver Practice Surgeries Begin
Research

Team completes first robotic bladder retrievals in human cadavers, discovering robotic approach superior for pelvic vascular work.
January 1st, 2023
Bladder Transplant Research Begins
Research

Nassiri and Gill initiate four-year research program to develop bladder transplantation techniques, starting with porcine models.
January 1st, 2021

Scenarios

Bladder Transplants Become Standard of Care for Terminal Bladder Disease

Discussed by: UCLA and USC medical teams, transplant medicine journals, urology publications

If the ongoing clinical trials demonstrate consistent success with manageable rejection rates, bladder transplantation could become a standard option for carefully selected patients with terminal bladder dysfunction. This would require UNOS to establish allocation policies for bladders, expanding the organ donation system. Current alternatives—neobladder reconstruction using intestinal tissue—carry complications including infection, internal bleeding, and digestive problems. A true bladder transplant could offer better quality of life outcomes. Four more surgeries are planned; if similarly successful, larger trials will follow. Success depends on proving that long-term immunosuppression risks don't outweigh benefits for patients not already requiring it.

Procedure Remains Limited to Niche Multi-Organ Cases

Discussed by: Medical ethicists, transplant surgeons, organ allocation policy experts

The complexity and unknowns may confine bladder transplants to rare cases: patients already on immunosuppression from previous transplants, or those needing combined kidney-bladder procedures like Larrainzar. The bladder's complex pelvic vascular anatomy makes surgery technically demanding. More critically, asking patients to accept lifelong immunosuppression—with risks of infection, cancer, and organ damage—is hard to justify when neobladder reconstruction from their own tissue remains an option. Unless transplants prove dramatically superior in quality of life and longevity, most surgeons may stick with existing reconstructive techniques that don't require anti-rejection drugs or donor organs.

Rejection Issues Derail Clinical Trials

Discussed by: Transplant immunology researchers, medical publications tracking trial outcomes

The immune response to a transplanted bladder remains poorly understood. Unlike kidneys or hearts, where immunosuppression protocols are well-established after decades of practice, bladder transplantation is uncharted territory. If early patients experience severe rejection despite immunosuppression, or if the drugs required are too toxic, trials could pause or end. Bladder tissue constantly interfaces with urine and bacteria, potentially complicating rejection and infection dynamics. The two-year trial follow-up period may reveal long-term complications invisible in Larrainzar's immediate success. Failed organs would require removal and return to neobladder reconstruction—a major setback for patients who took the experimental gamble.

Historical Context

First Successful Kidney Transplant (1954)

1954

What Happened

Dr. Joseph Murray at Brigham & Women's Hospital transplanted a kidney between identical twin brothers, eliminating rejection risk. The recipient lived eight more years. This established the technical foundation for all future solid organ transplantation, though non-twin transplants remained impossible until immunosuppression drugs were developed in the 1960s.

Outcome

Short Term

Proved organ transplantation was surgically feasible and could extend life.

Long Term

Launched the entire field of transplant medicine; kidney transplants now routine with over 25,000 performed annually in the U.S.

Why It's Relevant Today

Like the 1954 kidney breakthrough, the 2025 bladder transplant opens a new category of organ replacement—but faces the same question: can it scale beyond the first success?

First Heart Transplant (1967-1968)

1967-1968

What Happened

Dr. Christiaan Barnard transplanted the first human heart in Cape Town in December 1967; the patient lived 18 days. Dr. Norman Shumway followed with the first U.S. heart transplant at Stanford in 1968. Early mortality was high due to rejection and infection. Programs nearly shut down until better immunosuppression drugs emerged in the 1980s.

Outcome

Short Term

Initial failures nearly ended heart transplantation; only a few centers persisted through the 1970s.

Long Term

Heart transplants are now routine with over 3,500 performed annually in the U.S. and one-year survival rates above 90%.

Why It's Relevant Today

The bladder transplant's immediate success echoes early heart transplant optimism—but that field endured a decade of failure before becoming viable.

First Lung Transplant Success (1983)

1983

What Happened

Dr. Joel Cooper performed the first successful single lung transplant at Toronto General Hospital after two decades of failed attempts by other surgeons. Previous failures stemmed from poor healing of the bronchial connection and infection. Cooper's technique innovations finally solved these problems.

Outcome

Short Term

Patient survived and breathed independently, validating years of experimental work.

Long Term

Lung transplants now save thousands annually, though they remain the most technically challenging solid organ transplants with highest rejection rates.

Why It's Relevant Today

The bladder shares the lung's challenge: constant exposure to bacteria and foreign material (urine vs. air), which may complicate long-term graft survival.