Update on Synthetic Blood Vessels

                Presently, a permanent solution to atherosclerosis does not exist. Although certain medications help alleviate the causation of the buildup of plaque in the arteries, extreme levels of blood clog may require a bypass surgery.  A bypass surgery typically consist of removing a healthy blood vessel from another part of the body and replacing the targeted severely clogged blood vessel.

                Bypass surgeries can be both dangerous and occasionally impossible because the patient lacks any usable healthy blood vessels to be extracted. Although there are several types of bypass surgery that may involve either stopping the heart, or not stopping the heart, both types of surgery are fairly successful by having a success rate of 95-98%. Gradually, technology will allow minimal invasive techniques that prevents a large incision of the chest and sternum.

In the following video clip, a brief animation explanation of bypass surgery is given.

                Bypass surgery is not always successful or even impractical for certain individuals. However, the theory of a synthetic blood vessel has been developed.  Individuals that do not possess any healthy blood vessels suitable for transplant  may soon experience a medication breakthrough that will allow synthetic blood vessels to permanently replace their damaged or severely clog blood vessels.

                Nevertheless, a medical breakthrough would not exist if the task is not hard solve. Currently, thousands of scientists around the world are trying to develop a synthetic blood vessel that may be suitable for implantation in a human. 

The problem of the synthetic blood vessel resides in:

1)      Can the synthetic blood vessel function exactly like an actual blood vessel?

2)      What material should the blood vessel be developed from?

i)        Would the body reject the synthetic blood vessel?

ii)       Is the material strong enough? elastic? pliable?

iii)     How long does it take to be produced?

3)      How would the synthetic blood vessel be created?

i)        Would it be grown in a culture within a Petri-dish within a laboratory?

ii)       Would it be printed through ink-jet printers?

4)      Will the new synthetic blood vessel permanently solve plaque buildup?

i)        Would the new blood vessel prevent atherosclerosis from reoccurring in the same region?

5)      Is a synthetic blood vessel practical?

i)        Will it be economically affordable?

ii)       How long will it take to be constructed?

The following video presents a research group in Germany attempting to develop artificial blood vessels that can be potentially used for human benefits.

                Although there is still plenty to learn about in the development of synthetic blood vessels, future research will allow bigger and better medical breakthroughs to be potentially discovered.  The current focus on synthetic blood vessel development revolve strongly on tissue synthesis from existing host cells that can be cultured in the laboratory through tissue engineering techniques. However, radical ideas using technologies that currently exist, such as the researchers from Germany have promising results. Researchers around the world are developing blood vessel prototypes that simply lack specific target characteristics of an authentic human blood vessel, but eventually they will be to synthesize a working blood vessel that may save the lives of thousands, or even millions around the world.

References:

1.      Amiel GE, et al. (2006) Engineering of blood vessels from acellular collagen matrices coated with human endothelial cells. Tissue Eng12:2355–2365.

2.      Kaushal S, et al. (2001) Functional small-diameter neovessels created using endothelial progenitor cells expanded ex vivo. Nat Med 7:1035–1040.

3.      McKee JA, Banik SS, Boyer MJ, Hamad NM, Lawson JH, Niklason LE, Counter CM. Human arteries engineered in vitro. EMBO Rep. 2003; 4: 633–638.

4.      Whittemore AD, Kent KC, Donaldson MC, Couch NP, Mannick JA. What is the proper role of polytetrafluoroethylene grafts in infrainguinal reconstruction? J Vasc Surg. 1989; 10: 299–305.