Growing A Blood Vessel in 7 Days

Vascular diseases are documented to be key components of the global burden of non-communicable diseases, as these disorders affect over 25 million individuals in westernized societies. Such patients could benefit from transplantation of tissue-engineered vascular grafts using autologous cells.  Michael Olausson, from the Sahlgrenska University Hospital (Sweden) , and colleagues, have successful transplanted two pediatric patients with autologous whole peripheral blood tissue-engineered veins. The blood samples were able to regenerate autologous blood vessels in one week. The study authors submit that: “These results provide a proof of principle for the generation of transplantable vascular grafts using a simple autologous blood sample, making it clinically feasible globally.”