Fibrin Gel in Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering: Comparative Study in Fibrinogen Isolation

摘要

Worldwide about one percent of all newborn children suffer from congenital cardiac defects. To gain quality of life and increase chances of survival a considerable part of them needs cardiac surgical interventions, such as valve replacements or reconstruction of blood vessels in the first months of life. Conventional used replacements have improved life expectancy and quality of the patients; however, they carry risks depending on the used implants such as need of anticoagulation or danger to trigger immunological reactions. For pediatric patients the inability of current replacement valves to grow, resulting in repeated surgical interventions with an elevated mortality risk is the most serious limitation. Cardiovascular tissue engineering that provides growing replacement tissue is thus a promising treatment option for these patients.