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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
A Porcine Heterotopic Heart Transplantation Protocol for Delivery of Therapeutics to a Cardiac Allograft
Published on: February 14, 2022
Alternatives to heart transplantation: integration of biology with surgery
Jesus Herreros1, Jorge C Trainini, Juan Carlos Chachques
1Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Marques de Valdecilla University Hospital, Santander, Spain.
Insights
Severe heart failure presents significant healthcare challenges. Innovative treatments integrating biology and technology offer new hope beyond limited heart transplantation options.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology and Regenerative Medicine
- Biomedical Engineering and Translational Science
Background:
- Chronic heart failure is a leading global healthcare burden due to rising patient numbers, hospitalizations, and costs.
- Heart transplantation is the optimal therapy for end-stage heart failure, but donor organ scarcity limits its widespread application (approx. 5000 worldwide annually).
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore novel therapeutic strategies for heart failure that address its biomechanical, molecular, and neurohormonal mechanisms.
- To review emerging treatments that integrate biological approaches with medical technologies as alternatives or adjuncts to heart transplantation.
Main Methods:
- Review of current and developing therapeutic strategies for heart failure.
- Focus on treatments including cellular cardiomyoplasty, tissue engineering, surgical ventricular restoration, and mechanical ventricular assistance.
Main Results:
- Several innovative treatments are being developed to potentially reverse heart failure or support patients.
- These include cell-based therapies, engineered tissues, surgical repair, and mechanical circulatory support systems.
Conclusions:
- Integrated development of novel biological and technological approaches offers promising future treatments for heart failure.
- Further research is needed to determine the optimal application and efficacy of these advanced heart failure therapies.
Abstract:
Chronic heart failure is one of the major health care issues in terms of increasing number of patients, rate of hospitalizations and costs. Heart transplantation is the best established therapy for patients with severe heart failure. However, the number of donors limits the activity to 5000 heart transplants performed annually worldwide. This limitation has generated alternative treatments. The increase of the interest in the reversibility of the heart failure and the application of new biological alternatives has generated therapeutic strategies designed to integrate biology and medical technologies in order to act to the biomechanical, the molecular and the neurohormonal mechanisms of heart failure. These treatments include cellular cardiomyoplasty, tissue engineering, surgical left ventricular restoration as well as passive and active mechanical ventricular assistance as destination therapy, bridge to recovery or bridge to transplantation. The integrated development of these approaches could offer hopeful treatments, although there is still much to be learned regarding the optimal use of these strategies.
