Longest-ever study on decellularized pulmonary patches supports the use of CardioGraft-MC® in pediatric patients
A study published in Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery demonstrates that CardioGraft-MC® decellularized allograft pulmonary patches provide better long-term durability and maintain the repaired pulmonary artery diameter over time when compared to non-decellularized patches in pediatric patients.
The study included 59 patients who underwent pulmonary arterioplasty during the bidirectional Glenn procedure at Texas Children’s Hospital between October 2008 and September 2017. The surgeons used either a CardioGraft-MC decellularized pulmonary patch or a non-decellularized cryopreserved pulmonary patch. Patients were examined for pulmonary artery size, reinterventions, and panel-reactive antibodies. The authors concluded that decellularized patches have the potential to “eliminate immunogenicity while promoting recellularization, matrix remodeling, and material growth in pediatric patients.”
“Since patch material is commonly used in growing children, the potential properties of decellularized patches have special relevance,” senior author E. Dean McKenzie, MD, Congenital Heart Surgeon at Texas Children’s Hospital, wrote in the retrospective study. “At our institution, decellularized patches have become the standard material for pulmonary arterioplasty and arch repair.”
Infants diagnosed with a congenital heart defect often require the use of donated human cardiovascular tissue to repair, replace, or reconstruct their valves and associated outflow tracts. When compared to non-decellularized patches at the mean follow-up time of seven years, patients who received the CardioGraft-MC decellularized pulmonary patch were associated with higher pre-Fontan pulmonary artery Z-scores, a measure of the pulmonary artery size relative to a healthy patient population. The higher Z-scores in this study indicate that the decellularized patches effectively maintained the repair diameter. The study also demonstrated that using CardioGraft-MC in pediatric patients resulted in higher freedom from reinterventions.
CardioGraft-MC pulmonary patches are decellularized using LifeNet Health’s patented and validated Matracell® process. The Matracell process renders tissue acellular without compromising the biomechanical integrity or biocompatibility of CardioGraft-MC pulmonary tissue. Tissue treated with Matracell technology yields a strong, acellular scaffold that facilitates cell migration and proliferation.
This study is the latest clinical publication showing the safety and efficacy of CardioGraft-MC.