Tissue Engineering: Relevance to Neonatal Congenital Heart Disease

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.
Source: Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine - Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Source Type: research