Heart Valve Tissue Engineering Benefits

Tissue engineering came about as early as the 1960s with advances in tissue culture technologies to propagate skin cells (Vesley, 2005). It has advanced to other areas of cells through the years, including heart valve tissue engineering. One in eight people aged 75 years and older suffer from a form of valve disease showing an increasing trend with age (Mol, 2005). For adults, the need arises mostly from an aging population. For children, the need arises from birth defects and other illnesses, such as rheumatic fever. The number of patients that will require heart valve replacement is expected to triple over the next five decades.

The main causes of cardiac valve dysfunction are calcification of leaflets, endocarditis, rheumatic fever, myxomatous degeneration or congenital malformations, leading to stenosis or insufficiency in the valve. Rheumatic fever has been the main cause of heart disease in children and...
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