Heart disease, including valve pathologies, is the leading cause of death worldwide. Despite the progress made thanks to improving transplantation techniques, a perfect valve substitute has not yet been developed: once a diseased valve is replaced with current technologies, the newly implanted valve still needs to be changed some time in the future. This situation is particularly dramatic in the case of children and young adults, because of the necessity of valve growth during the patient's life. Our review focuses on the current status of heart valve (HV) therapy and the challenges that must be solved in the development of new approaches based on tissue engineering. Scientists and physicians have proposed tissue-engineered heart valves (TEHVs) as the most promising solution for HV replacement, especially given that they can help to avoid thrombosis, structural deterioration and xenoinfections. Lastly, TEHVs might also serve as a model for studying human valve development and pathologies.

Cell and Tissue Bank Regional Transfusion Center Valencia Spain

Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences Faculty of Pharmacy University of Helsinki Viikinkaari 5 E P O Box 56 00014 Helsinki Finland

EDMANS Group University of La Rioja C Luis de Ulloa 20 26004 Logrono Spain

Hospital Fundación Jimenez Diaz IIS FJD 28040 Madrid Spain

International Clinical Research Center Integrated Center of Cellular Therapy and Regenerative Medicine St Anne's University Hospital Brno Czech Republic

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org

The time has come to extend the expiration limit of cryopreserved allograft heart valves