title: [Advances in tracheal prostheses].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review the research advances of the tracheal prosthesis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The articles concerned in recent years were extensively reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were still many arguments about the use of tracheal substitutes. A variety of artificial trachea had been designed and assessed, but so far none of them had been satisfactory for clinical use. The failures were mainly due to their high mortality and incidence of complication such as prosthesis defluvium, granuloma formation, local infection, air leakage, anastomotic stenosis or obstruction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The major causes of the poor effectiveness by the use of tracheal prosthesis are closely related to its biological compatibilities. The selected biomaterials and the design of prosthesis hold the key to a breakthrough in research and clinical use of tracheal prosthesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of T'horacic and Cardiovascular Surgery, College of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou Jiangsu, 225001, PR China. shean111@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Hongcan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D006801:Humans; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D014132:Trachea / Q000601:surgery*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials