Bioengineered Vein

Last June 5^th, surgeons at Duke University Hospital implanted a bioengineered vein into the arm of a 62 year old man from Danville, VA who had end stage kidney disease and had been under going dialysis for several years. The vein was derived from donated human smooth muscle cells (not the patient’s own) and grown on a tubular, rotating mesh scaffold.  The nutrient medium pulsed through the tube, simulating a heart beat.  In the end, living cells were stripped away, leaving a collagen tube into which new muscle cells could grow after implantation. Developers of this method suppose it might be possible to do the same thing for heart blood vessel grafts.   MORE

Image Credit:  Shawn Rocco, Duke Medicine