Engineered Blood Vessels In Trials
WebMD reports on human trials of tissue engineered blood vessels: "This is the world's first implantation of a tissue-engineered blood vessel produced in the laboratory. ... The vessels are built with the patient's own cells ... blood vessels have either been grown or are in the process of being grown for six patients. Two have been implanted in kidney dialysis patients to offset damage in shunts placed in blood vessels of their arms used for dialysis. A third patient is expected to have the implant early next year. The team is able to take two cell types - skin and the inner lining of vessels - from the patient's own body. The skin is grown into sheets, wrapped around a medical tube, and fused together, forming a vessel. Just before implantation into the patient, cells grown from the inner lining of the patient's own veins are cultured and grown within the engineered vessel."
Link: http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/115/111636.htm?printing=true