| Dec 11, 2013 |
Study finds biomaterials repair human heart |
| (Nanowerk News) Clemson University biological sciences student Meghan Stelly and her father, Alabama cardiovascular surgeon Terry Stelly, investigated a biomedical application following a coronary artery bypass surgery and found that the application allowed the human body to regenerate its own tissue. |
| Their findings were published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery ("Histology of CorMatrix Bioscaffold 5 Years After Pericardial Closure"). |
| The biomaterial extracellular matrix (ECM) is a naturally occurring substance that helps regulate cells and can be harvested and processed in such a way that removes all cells, leaving only the structural matrix, which is made of collagen. ECM can be molded into a “bioscaffold” for medical applications to enable a patient’s cells to repopulate and repair damaged tissue. |
| The researchers were afforded the opportunity to clinically examine a bioscaffold that was implanted five years earlier to close the pericardium, a double-walled sac containing the human heart, following a coronary artery bypass surgery. |
| “Pathology results revealed that the bioscaffold had remoldeled into viable, fully cellularized tissue similar to the native pericardium,” said Meghan. ”Essentially, the human body regrew its own tissue.” |
| This research demonstrates the long-term effectiveness of this technology as an implant for pericardial closure and cardiac tissue repair. |
| “Anytime you can have the body regrow its own tissue instead of introducing a foreign object into it is a better outcome for the patient,” she said. |
| Source: Clemson University |
