Johns Hopkins seeking participants with bladder exstrophy for clinical trial
The pediatric urology team at Johns Hopkins is looking for bladder exstrophy patients to participate in a clinical trial. Participants must have a history of bladder exstrophy closure and failed bladder neck reconstruction. John P. Gearhart M.D. and Heather N. McCaffrey Di Carlo, M.D. are leading the study. They have reached out to A-BE-C to help spread the word.
If you feel your child is a candidate and you’d like to learn more, please click here or use the form below to contact the study’s administrator.
Fast facts about the study:
· NIH approved, privately funded study
· Clinical trial of an FDA-approved protocol
· Investigating the injection of muscle derived stem cells
· Looking for participants with a history of bladder exstrophy closure and failed bladder neck reconstruction
More about the treatment being studied:
According to the team at Johns Hopkins, endoscopic treatment of urinary incontinence has gained popularity during the last two decades, mainly because it is minimally invasive compared to open surgery. The striated muscles of the external sphincter play a major role in maintaining continence during the filling of the bladder, but children with bladder exstrophy lack this feature because of a deficiency in their sphincter structures.
This study is looking into the feasibility of transurethral implantation of muscle stem cells. The procedure may represent an improved alternative to synthetic bulking agents, because the muscle stem cells may have the unique ability to compensate for the deficient muscle fibers in the urethral sphincter. Johns Hopkins Pediatric Urologists are running this clinical trial for the first time in the nation.