The implanted vessels also held surgical sutures without tearing and responded to drugs similar to how the native vessels would. Much more research is needed to determine when this type of tissue engineering can be done in a clinical setting. If it is possible, this technique could be used to treat patients with cardiovascular or peripheral vascular disease. There's no way we can predict when that would be an option right now. We really need to learn a whole lot about culturing the human cells and creating the human grafts first.
Some obstacles face the researchers when considering engineered arteries in humans.
The researchers are now working on optimizing the conditions under which the cells are exposed in the bioreactor. The research was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research.