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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter May 28, 2013

Heart valve engineering: decellularized allograft matrices in clinical practice

  • Anneke Neumann , Serghei Cebotari , Igor Tudorache , Axel Haverich and Samir Sarikouch EMAIL logo

Abstract

The purpose of this review is to update the current clinical experience with tissue-engineered, nonseeded, allogenic matrices for pulmonary and aortic valve replacement. Allogenic heart valve replacement using an aortic root homograft was first performed 50 years ago on July 24, 1962, by Donald Ross at Guy’s Hospital, London. Cryopreserved homografts have been the gold standard for many years in selected indications such as for pulmonary valve replacement in congenital heart disease, severe bacterial endocarditis, or for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction during the Ross pulmonary autograft operation. However, there is evolving evidence that tissue-engineered decellularized homografts may be superior to conventional cryopreserved homografts.


Corresponding author: PD Dr. med. Samir Sarikouch, Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hanover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hanover, Germany, Phone: +49-511-532-5567, Fax: +49-511-532-18502, E-mail:

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Received: 2012-12-13
Accepted: 2013-5-13
Published Online: 2013-05-28
Published in Print: 2013-10-01

©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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