title: Review article: Tissue engineering of semilunar heart valves: current status and future developments.
abstract: Heart valve replacement represents the most common surgical therapy for end-stage valvular heart diseases. One major drawback that all heart valve replacements have in common is the lack of growth, repair, and remodeling capability once implanted into the body. The emerging field of tissue engineering is focusing on the in-vitro generation of functional, living semilunar heart valve replacements. This review presents a state-of-the-art overview of the physiological and biomechanical requirements of semilunar heart valves, focusing on the aortic valve. Moreover, recent heart valve tissue engineering is summarized and future options and improvements on the way towards clinical applications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Zurich, Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mol
authors.forename: Carlijn V C
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Bouten
authors.forename: Frank P T
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Baaijens
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zünd
authors.forename: Marko I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Turina
authors.forename: Simon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Hoerstrup
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D001705:Bioprosthesis / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis / Q000639:trends*; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D011474:Prosthesis Design / Q000639:trends; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000639:trends*