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Original Articles: General Thoracic

Morphologic Assessment of Extracellular Matrix Scaffolds for Patch Tracheoplasty in a Canine Model

^a McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
^b Heart, Lung, and Esophageal Institute, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
^c Veterans' Affairs Pittsburgh Health Care System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
^d Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Medical Research Center, Denver, Colorado

Accepted for publication April 21, 2008.

^_* Address correspondence to Dr Badylak, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, 100 Technology Drive, Ste 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (Email: badylaks{at}upmc.edu).

Presented at the Forty-fourth Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Jan 28–30, 2008.

Background: The optimal management of benign tracheal stricture remains surgical resection. Resection is not always an option because of the challenges posed by anastomotic tension and a tenuous blood supply. Regenerative medicine approaches, such as extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffold technology, may alleviate some of the limitations to tracheal replacement. ECM scaffolds facilitate site-specific tissue remodeling when used to reconstruct a variety of soft-tissue structures.

Methods: A 1-cm wide x 2-cm-long defect was created in the ventral trachea of 15 dogs and repaired with one of three acellular biologic scaffolds: urinary bladder matrix (UBM), UBM crosslinked with carbodiimide (UBMC), and decellularized tracheal matrix (DTM). The grafts were evaluated periodically using bronchoscopy and by macroscopic and microscopic morphologic examination at either 2 months or 6 months.

Results: The UBM, UBMC, and DTM groups showed no evidence of stenosis or tracheomalacia. The UBM, UBMC, and DTM groups all showed deposition of organized collagenous tissue at the site of scaffold placement and an intact epithelial layer. Scattered areas of mucociliary differentiation were present at the edges of the graft site. There was no evidence cartilage observed within the remodeled tissue at 6 months.

Conclusions: ECM scaffolds promote healing of significantly sized tracheal defects without stricture and with some, but not all, of the necessary structures required for tracheal reconstruction, including complete coverage with ciliated epithelium and dense organized collagenous tissue.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Schanz, M. Hampel, H. Mertsching, and T. Walles Experimental Tracheal Patching Using Extracellular Matrix Scaffolds Ann. Thorac. Surg., April 1, 2009; 87(4): 1321 - 1322. [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. W. Gilbert Reply Ann. Thorac. Surg., April 1, 2009; 87(4): 1322 - 1323. [Full Text] [PDF]