Abstract

Stem cells in vascular graft tissue engineering for congenital heart surgery

Author(s): H Jia, M Caputo & MT Ghorbel

Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects approximately 1% of all live births, making it the most common birth defect worldwide. CHD remains the primary cause of death among infants in North America and Europe. Moreover, improvements of cardiac surgery techniques have led to a remarkable improvement in early survival rate, with a parallel increase in the number of patients with adult CHD (5% increase annually in UK). The 2009 WHO annual report puts the disability-adjusted life year for CHD higher than diseases such as diabetes or hypertension