Artificial blood vessels could limit risks during heart bypass procedures
![Researchers have developed artificial blood vessels that could be as strong and durable as the real things, publishing their work in Advanced Materials Technologies.[1] The group hopes its work could go on to make a significant impact in care for heart bypass patients.](/sites/default/files/styles/top_stories/public/2024-07/screenshot_2024-07-25_at_2.38.35_pm.png.webp?itok=imSyZnHs)
Researchers have developed artificial blood vessels that could be as strong and durable as the real things, publishing their work in Advanced Materials Technologies.[1] The group hopes its work could go on to make a significant impact in care for heart bypass patients.
A team with the University of Edinburgh developed the synthetic vessels using 3D-printing technology. First, a “rotating spindle integrated into a 3D printer” was used to print grafts out of a water-based gel. Those grafts are then coated in biodegradable polyester molecules.
If these “strong, flexible, gel-like tubes” can gain enough momentum among healthcare providers, lead author Faraz Fazal, PhD, and colleagues think many of the complications associated with removing human veins during bypass operations could be avoided altogether.
“Our hybrid technique opens up new and exciting possibilities for the fabrication of tubular constructs in tissue engineering,” Fazal said in a statement.
“The results from our research address a long-standing challenge in the field of vascular tissue engineering – to produce a conduit that has similar biomechanical properties to that of human veins,” added co-author Norbert Radacsi, PhD.
These artificial blood vessels can be made as thin as 1 mm in diameter and as wide as 40 mm in diameter. Because they are so flexible, Fazal, Radacsi and colleagues believe the 3D-printed grafts could be used for a wide variety of procedures.
The team explained its research in great detail in Advanced Materials Technologies, noting that autologous grafts “still represent the gold standard for bypass surgeries, but the failure rates are high, and the graft harvest often results in donor site morbidity.”
“Most commercially available grafts made from synthetic materials are suitable for large-diameter arteries (>6 mm),” they explained. “However, they often fail due to infection and intimal hyperplasia when used to replace a small-diameter artery.”
The next step for this research involves trying the artificial blood vessels out on animals; if those tests are successful, human trials would then follow.
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Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.