How Recent Patents Have Changed our Clinical Approach in Cardio-Thoracic Surgery

Cardiovascular diseases represent the first cause of death in industrialized countries. To date, cardiac surgery is still considered the preferential treatment especially for those patients with severe heart failure. For these reasons, over the years the number of patents and applications in the cardiothoracic surgical area has notably improved probably than any other research field, starting from heart valves, devices and stents and including today the modern tissue engineering such as 3D scaffolds, patches and tissues. In this paper, we review the last recent patents specifically relevant to cardiothoracic surgery, beyond a simple description of inventions; we have also attempted to offer a broad overview on the scientific background and to highlight issues that still need to be addressed in the next future.