Scientists have devised a new method of growing blood vessels—safe for transplanting into anyone, or for storage for up to a year—that could revolutionize heart surgery, reports the Telegraph. To create the veins, random donor cells are placed on a biodegradable scaffold, where they grow collagen; the original cells are then washed away, leaving behind a usable tube free of the complications that dog current blood vessel options.
Harvesting veins from a patient's leg can lead to complications, and synthetic veins often clog and cause infections. And growing blood vessels from a patients own cells can take upward of nine months—too long for many patients in need of bypass surgery. "This study shows that bioengineering can be used to create a novel type of vascular graft that has the potential to improve outcomes for patients," said one doctor. "We look forward to the results of clinical trials designed to test this.” (More bypass stories.)
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