More On Heart Tissue Engineering

Forbes looks at one strand of tissue engineering research and regenerative medicine for the heart: "Merging artificially engineered products with a patient's own heart to stop or reverse cardiac damage could be the wave of the future, researchers say. One such innovation, the 'cardiac patch,' is just that: A piece of living, beating cardiac tissue, grown in the lab in just a few days and applied to hearts wounded by prior heart attack or chronic disease. ... The real challenge is that you have to place the patch upon the heart in a way that it integrates into the heart. You don't want it to just sit there as a separate entity. It needs to connect electrically so that it syncs up with signals coming from the cells, so everything works together. ... animal trials tackling those issues are already under way ... perhaps a decade from now, human trials might begin."

Link: http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2006/01/20/hscout530478.html

Comment Submission

Post a comment; thoughtful, considered opinions are valued. New comments can be edited for a few minutes following submission. Comments incorporating ad hominem attacks, advertising, and other forms of inappropriate behavior are likely to be deleted.

Note that there is a comment feed for those who like to keep up with conversations.