Current Development in Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts

Vascular tissue engineering has been hailed as a breakthrough in reconstructive vessel surgery. The traditional method includes either vessel substitution with an artificial graft or an autologous compatible tissue. For artificial grafts, some limitations are inevitable (e.g. thrombotic complications) and they cannot be used in substitution of small-caliber arterial vessels. On the other hand, the use of autologous donor-vessels is often restricted due to concomitant disease. The main aim of vascular tissue engineering is to provide biological artery substitutes by combining cellular components with biodegradable scaffolds. In this review, current approaches to vascular tissue engineering and the possible involvement of specific gene expression are discussed.