Urologic tissue engineering with small-intestinal submucosa: potential clinical applications

Small-intestinal submucosa (SIS) is a unique biomaterial that has been shown to induce tissue-specific regeneration in numerous organ systems. In the urinary tract, animal studies have demonstrated that SIS promotes functional bladder regeneration. Other preliminary studies have suggested that SIS may also be extremely useful for several other types of urologic surgery application where new tissue is needed or reinforcement of native structures is desired. This article reviews past and current work with SIS in the urinary tract and focuses on applications that will likely have future clinical utility.