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Tissue engineering: Relevance to neonatal congenital heart disease
Kevin M Blum1, Gabriel J M Mirhaidari2, Christopher K Breuer3
1Center for Regenerative Medicine, The Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Childrens Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Insights
Tissue engineering offers promising solutions for congenital heart disease (CHD) in pediatric patients, addressing limitations of current prosthetic devices. Research is advancing tissue engineered vascular grafts, heart patches, and valves for improved CHD treatment.
Area of Science:
- Regenerative Medicine
- Biomaterials Science
- Pediatric Cardiology
Background:
- Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of infant mortality, with current treatments relying on prosthetic devices.
- Prosthetic vascular grafts and valves used in pediatric CHD patients have significant limitations, including thrombosis, infection, poor endothelialization, and lack of growth potential.
- These limitations highlight the need for innovative therapeutic strategies in pediatric cardiovascular surgery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current surgical treatments for congenital heart disease (CHD).
- To examine the advancements in tissue engineering for developing novel treatments for pediatric CHD.
- To assess the potential of tissue engineered vascular grafts, heart patches, and heart valves in addressing the limitations of current prosthetic devices.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of current surgical interventions for CHD.
- Analysis of research progress in tissue engineering for cardiovascular applications.
- Evaluation of studies on tissue engineered vascular grafts, heart patches, and heart valves for pediatric use.
Main Results:
- Current prosthetic devices for CHD have limited long-term efficacy in pediatric populations.
- Tissue engineering approaches are being developed to create functional vascular grafts, heart patches, and valves.
- Significant progress has been made in translating tissue engineering strategies towards clinical application for CHD.
Conclusions:
- Tissue engineering presents a promising alternative to conventional prosthetic devices for treating pediatric congenital heart disease.
- Further research and development are crucial for the widespread clinical adoption of tissue engineered solutions for CHD.
- Advancements in tissue engineering are rapidly progressing, offering hope for improved outcomes in patients with congenital heart disease.
Abstract:
Congenital heart disease (CHD) represents a large clinical burden, representing the most common cause of birth defect-related death in the newborn. The mainstay of treatment for CHD remains palliative surgery using prosthetic vascular grafts and valves. These devices have limited effectiveness in pediatric patients due to thrombosis, infection, limited endothelialization, and a lack of growth potential. Tissue engineering has shown promise in providing new solutions for pediatric CHD patients through the development of tissue engineered vascular grafts, heart patches, and heart valves. In this review, we examine the current surgical treatments for congenital heart disease and the research being conducted to create tissue engineered products for these patients. While much research remains to be done before tissue engineering becomes a mainstay of clinical treatment for CHD patients, developments have been progressing rapidly towards translation of tissue engineering devices to the clinic.
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