Tissue engineering: an option for esophageal replacement?

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.