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Volume 18, Issue 1, Pages 57-62 (February 2009)


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Tissue engineering: an option for esophageal replacement?

Augusto Zania, Agostino Pierroa, Nicola Elvassoreb, Paolo De Coppi, MD, PhDaCorresponding Author Informationemail address

Esophageal replacement is required in several pediatric surgical conditions, like long-gap esophageal atresia. Although several techniques have been described to bridge the gap, all of them could be followed by postoperative complications. Esophageal tissue engineering could represent a valid alternative thanks to the recent advances in biomaterial science and cellular biology. Numerous attempts to shape a new esophagus in vitro have been described in the last decade. Herein, we review the main studies on the experimental use of nonabsorbable and absorbable materials as well as the development of cellularized patches. Furthermore, we describe the future perspectives of esophageal tissue engineering characterized by the use of stem cells seeded on new biopolymers. This opens to the construction of a functional allograft that could allow an anatomical replacement that grows with the children and does not severely impair their anatomy.

a Department of Paediatric Surgery, Institute of Child Health & Great Ormond St Hospital, London, United Kingdom

b Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Corresponding Author InformationAddress reprint requests and correspondence: Paolo De Coppi, MD, PhD, Surgery Unit, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, WC1N 1EH, London, UK

PII: S1055-8586(08)00087-5

doi:10.1053/j.sempedsurg.2008.10.011


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