A breakthrough in the manufacture of synthetic blood vessels has raised hopes that children born with serious heart defects could be treated in a single operation instead of multiple rounds of open heart surgery. Tranquillo’s synthetic blood vessels are made from gels seeded with living cells called fibroblasts. Before the synthetic blood vessels can be implanted they are washed in a detergent to strip out all of the living cells. In the operations, the synthetic vessels replaced sections of pulmonary artery which carries oxygen-depleted blood from the heart to the lungs. So far the team has made synthetic blood vessels ranging from 2mm to 24mm wide to suit hearts from babies to adults.

Source: The Guardian September 27, 2016 15:00 UTC