Tissue-engineered tracheal transplantation.
Regenerative medicine offers new tools with which to tackle disorders for which there is currently no good therapeutic option. The trachea is an ideal organ in which to explore the clinical potential of tissue engineering because severe large airway disease is poorly managed by conventional treatments, and the success of a graft is determined only by its ability to conduct air lifelong: that is, whether it can become a sustainable biological conduit. We define the component parts of tissue engineering and review the experimental methods used to produce airway implants to date, including a recent successful, first-in-man experience.
Baiguera
Silvia
S
BIOAIR (Laboratory of Biomolecular and Bioengineering Airways), University of Florence, Florenz, Italy.
Birchall
Martin A
MA
Macchiarini
Paolo
P
D000328:Adult; D055091:Bronchomalacia / Q000601:surgery*; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000637:transplantation; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000637:transplantation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D014132:Trachea / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation*; D023001:Transplantation Tolerance; D016896:Treatment Outcome