Abstract
Tissue engineering holds great promise for the advancement of cardiovascular surgery as well as other medical fields. Tissue-engineered vascular grafts have the ability to grow and remodel and could therefore make great advances for pediatric cardiovascular surgery. In 2001, we began a human clinical trial evaluating these grafts in patients with a univentricular physiology. Herein, we report the long-term results of patients who underwent implantation of tissue-engineered vascular grafts as extracardiac total cavopulmonary conduits. Tissue-engineered vascular grafts seeded with autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells were implanted in 25 patients with univentricular physiology. The graft is composed of a woven fabric of poly-l-lactide acid or polyglycolic acid and a 50:50 poly (l-lactic-co-ε-caprolactone) copolymer. Patients were followed up with postoperatively in a multidisciplinary clinic. Median patient age at operation was 5.5 years and the mean follow-up period was 11.1 years. There was no graft-related mortality during the follow-up period. There was also no evidence of aneurysmal formation, graft rupture, graft infection, or calcification. Seven (28%) patients had asymptomatic graft stenosis and underwent successful balloon angioplasty. Stenosis is the primary complication of the tissue-engineered vascular graft. Avoidance of anticoagulation therapy would improve patients’ quality of life. Tissue-engineered vascular grafts have feasibility in pediatric cardiovascular surgery.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 175-179 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Seminars in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery |
Volume | 30 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Fontan surgery
- congenital heart disease
- pediatric cardiac surgery
- tissue-engineering
- univentricular physiology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery
- Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine