Tissue engineering of heart valves -- current aspects.

Tissue engineering of heart valves is an evolving research field. Driven by the shortcomings of the heart valve substitutes currently available, such as need for anticoagulation, susceptibility to infections, inability to grow and autorepair, the multidisciplinary approach for designing and growing viable heart valves identical to the native heart valves has begun. The following will give an update of the recent developments, current limitations and potential future applications of tissue-engineered heart valves.