Authors: Madhuri Kalathur Silvia Baiguera Paolo Macchiarini
Publish Date: 2010/08/21
Volume: 67, Issue: 24, Pages: 4185-4196
Abstract
There are a variety of airway diseases with different clinical settings which may extend from a surgical approach to total organ replacement Tissue engineering involves modifying cells or tissues in order to repair regenerate or replace tissue in the body and seems to be a promising approach for airway replacement The successful implantation of stemcellbased tissueengineered trachea in a young woman with endstage posttuberculosis left main bronchus collapse serves as a prototype for the airway tissueengineeredbased approach The trachea indeed could represent a perfect model system to investigate the translational aspects of tissue engineering largely due to its lowoxygen needs This review highlights the anatomy of the airways the various disease conditions that cause damage to the airways elaborates on the essential components of the tissueengineering approach and discusses the success of the revolutionary trachea transplantation approach
Keywords: