Intelligent Materials Enable In-Situ Heart Valve Tissue Engineering

About 300,000 patients each year receive a heart valve replacement that is either a mechanical device or produced from animal tissue. Although these valves generally improve survival and quality of life, they do not consist of living tissue and therefore cannot grow with the patient or repair themselves in case of damage. Especially for younger patients, this results in a high probability of repeated valve replacements, with associated risks to health and even life.