Heart Valve Matrices: State of the Art and Perspectives

Abstract

The first successful aortic and mitral valve replacement was performed, respectively, by D. Harken and N. Braunwald in 1960. Both used mechanical grafts, but 10 years later M. Ionescu implanted a biological valve substitute in humans. As biological valve grafts evolved, multiple sources were used: porcine aortic valves, xenopericardial substitutes, and, most recently, tissue engineered allografts, reseeded by means of guided repopulation. The present work describes the major challenges of these methods, analyses different decellularization approaches used for semilunar valves, and future possibilities for tissue engineering to be applied in humans, such as creation of atrioventricular valve substitutes. Refs 73. Figure 1.