A step toward tissue-engineered heart structures for children
Delicate valves and patches grow with the child September 10,
2007 Virna Sales, MDInfants and children receiving artificial
heart-valve replacements face several repeat operations as they
grow, since the replacements become too small and must be traded
for bigger ones. Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have
now developed a solution: living, growing valves created in the
lab from a patient's own cells. In a special issue of
Circulation published September 11, they describe making
pulmonary valves through tissue engineering. These valves, which
provide one-way blood flow from the heart's right ventricle into
the pulmonary artery, are often malformed in congenital heart
disease, putting an extra burden on the heart. "The heart valve
is a complex organ," says Virna Sales, MD, a researcher in
Children's Department of Cardiac Surgery and the study's first
author. "It must open and close synchronously, withstand
pressure, and be pliable and elasti