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Indian-origin surgeon aids first-ever bladder transplant at UCLA
Dr. Inderbir Gill, who moved to the U.S. from India in 1989 after completing his early medical training and general surgery residency, assisted UCLA’s Dr. Nima Nassiri in leading the procedure.
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Pranavi Sharma - Tue, 20, May 2025
- 02:25 EDT
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Indian-origin urologist and robotic surgery pioneer Dr. Inderbir Singh Gill / X
In a groundbreaking advancement for organ transplant surgery, Indian-origin urologist and robotic surgery pioneer Dr. Inderbir Singh Gill played a key role in the world’s first human bladder transplant, performed at UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center earlier this month.
The eight-hour operation, completed on May 4, involved transplanting both a bladder and kidney into 41-year-old Oscar Larrainzar, a father of four who had previously lost most of his bladder and both kidneys due to cancer and end-stage disease.
Dr. Gill, who moved to the U.S. from India in 1989 after completing his early medical training and general surgery residency, assisted UCLA’s Dr. Nima Nassiri in leading the procedure. Gill is currently based in Los Angeles and is the founding executive director of the USC Institute of Urology. He has been a leader in minimally invasive surgery for decades. In 2017, he led the team that performed Mumbai’s first robotic kidney transplant at Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre.
The historic surgery was the result of years of collaborative research and clinical trials between Gill and Nassiri. “This first attempt at bladder transplantation has been over four years in the making,” Nassiri told UCLA. “For the appropriately selected patient, it is exciting to be able to offer a new potential option.”
According to UCLA, the transplant was carried out in phases. Surgeons first implanted a donor kidney, followed by the donor bladder, using a technique the team had developed through multiple trial surgeries. The newly implanted kidney was then connected to the bladder.
“The kidney immediately made a large volume of urine, and the patient’s kidney function improved immediately,” Nassiri told UCLA. “There was no need for any dialysis after surgery, and the urine drained properly into the new bladder.”
Larrainzar, who had been on dialysis for seven years, had been living without functioning kidneys or a proper urinary system since undergoing surgeries to remove cancerous tissue.
Bladder transplantation has never been successfully performed in humans until now, largely due to the technical challenges involved. “The complicated vascular structure of the pelvic area and the technical complexity of the procedure” have been major barriers, UCLA explained.
To overcome these challenges, Gill and Nassiri conducted extensive trial surgeries at Keck Medical Center of USC, including the first robotic and non-robotic bladder retrieval and transplant procedures. Those practice runs allowed the team to refine the techniques necessary to perform the real-world transplant.
Unlike traditional treatments for bladder loss which use segments of the intestine to fashion a substitute bladder or urinary path, a transplanted bladder could potentially provide more natural urinary function with fewer complications. “A bladder transplant, on the other hand, results in a more normal urinary reservoir and may circumvent some short- and long-term issues associated with using the intestine,” Nassiri told UCLA.
While the initial results are promising, UCLA cautions that long-term outcomes remain uncertain. Doctors will continue to monitor how well the bladder functions over time and the level of immunosuppression needed to prevent organ rejection. As of now, Larrainzar has remained stable.
The operation was conducted under a UCLA clinical trial designed by Nassiri and Gill. They hope this will pave the way for more bladder transplants in the future.
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