Tissue engineering with a decellularized valve matrix

Tissue engineering requires scaffolds, which are of biologic or synthetic origin. Synthetic scaffolds have the advantage of sterility and no occurrence of immunologic barriers; however, the degradation process is unpredictable and thus the hemodynamic behavior is also unpredictable. Biologic scaffolds have the advantage that suitable animals, e.g., pigs, are abundant, the macroarchitecture is close to human anatomy which eases surgical handling and implantation, and their microarchitecture is adapted to load conditions. Disadvantages are the threats of rejection and infection, which also implies transmission of specific viruses. These drawbacks can be overcome only by complete decellularization.