title: Pediatric cardiovascular grafts: historical perspective and future directions.
abstract: Tissue-engineered cardiovascular patches, cardiac valves, and great vessels are emerging solutions for the surgical treatment of congenital cardiovascular abnormalities due to their potential for adapting with the growing child. The ideal pediatric cardiovascular patch/graft is non-thrombogenic, phenotypically compatible, and matches the compliance and mechanical strength of the native tissue, both initially and throughout growth. Bottom-up tissue engineering approaches, in which three-dimensional tissue is built layer-by-layer from scaffold-less cell sheets in vitro, offer an exciting potential solution. Cell source variability, sheet patterning, and scaffold-less fabrication are promising advantages offered by this approach. Here we review the latest developments and next steps in bottom-up tissue engineering targeted at meeting the necessary design criteria for successful pediatric cardiac tissue-engineered grafts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Stanley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heydrick
authors.affiliation: Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Boston University, 15 St. Mary's Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Cardiac Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Jaeyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Sitaram
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Emani
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Boston University, 15 St. Mary's Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Electronic address: jywong@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Joyce Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D053686:Fetal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D006351:Heart Valves / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*