LifeNet Health has a strong commitment to developing uses of donor tissue to meet the world’s cardiovascular needs. The goals of the Institute are to utilize the donor gift to provide life saving and life restoring tissue grafts through innovative bioengineering and giving hope to donor families and recipients.
Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death annually (2.5M) and the most costly disease in the U.S. - $298B/annually. Cardiac congenital anomalies are the most common birth defects in the U.S. (ref. cdc.gov)
Ongoing research projects, such as the development of LifeNet Health’s MatrACELL™ Technology, focuses on today’s ever-increasing cardiovascular needs. LifeNet Health’s MatrACELL® Technology was developed as a means to improve traditionally processed frozen donor cardiovascular tissues. As a result of removing the donor cells, while preserving the structural integrity of the tissue, MatrACELL allows the patient’s own cells to repopulate the tissue – avoiding inflammation and rejection which would result in the tissue graft failing.
The MatrACELL® pulmonary artery patch was the first clinical application to repair the right ventricular outflow tract and was LifeNet Health’s first medical device cleared by the FDA October 2008.