Staged surgical treatment of a primary duodenocaval fistula in a patient with metastatic nonseminomatous germ cell tumor.

Endovascular exclusion of aortoenteric fistula has been described as a bridge to definitive open repair surgery. However, little is known about transposing this technique to treat duodenocaval fistula. We report a case of a 20-year-old man who presented with a duodenocaval fistula arising from a metastatic nonseminomatous germ cell tumor.

Microstructured human fibroblast-derived extracellular matrix scaffold for vascular media fabrication.

In the clinical and pharmacological fields, there is a need for the production of tissue-engineered small-diameter blood vessels. We have demonstrated previously that the extracellular matrix (ECM) produced by fibroblasts can be used as a scaffold to support three-dimensional (3D) growth of another cell type. Thus, a resistant tissue-engineered vascular media can be produced when such scaffolds are used to culture smooth muscle cells (SMCs).

Prospective study on the treatment of lower-extremity chronic venous and mixed ulcers using tissue-engineered skin substitute made by the self-assembly approach.

Background: Despite present optimal standard treatment of lower-extremity ulceration, a high incidence of recurrence and treatment failure is observed. The objective of this project was to evaluate the effect of a self-assembled skin substitute (SASS) made by tissue engineering as a temporary cutaneous dressing in the treatment of hard-to-heal chronic ulcers.

Patients And Methods: The prospective uncontrolled case study includes patients suffering from venous or mixed ulcers lasting more than 6 months and unresponsive to compression therapy, with an Ankle Brachial Index greater than 0.

Tissue-engineered vascular adventitia with vasa vasorum improves graft integration and vascularization through inosculation.

Tissue-engineered blood vessel is one of the most promising living substitutes for coronary and peripheral artery bypass graft surgery. However, one of the main limitations in tissue engineering is vascularization of the construct before implantation. Such a vascularization could play an important role in graft perfusion and host integration of tissue-engineered vascular adventitia.

Polyphenols modulate calcium-independent mechanisms in human arterial tissue-engineered vascular media.

Background: In the present study, an arterial tissue-engineered vascular media (TEVM) was produced from cultured human smooth muscle cells of the umbilical artery and we took advantage of this model to evaluate the regulation of contraction and the signalling pathways of polyphenols in arteries.

Methods: Cultured human smooth muscle cells of the umbilical artery were used to produce arterial TEVMs. Contraction experiments were performed to determine intracellular targets involved in the modulation of contraction by polyphenols extract from red wine, Provinols (SEPPIC Groupe Air Liquide, Paris, France).

Mechanical loading modulates the differentiation state of vascular smooth muscle cells.

The cause underlying the onset of stenosis after vascular reconstruction is not well understood. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of mechanical unloading on the differentiation state of human vascular smooth muscle cells (hVSMCs) using a tissue-engineered vascular media (TEVM). hVSMCs cultured in a mechanically loaded three-dimensional environment, known as a living tissue sheet, had a higher differentiated state than cells grown on plastic.

Adventitia contribution in vascular tone: insights from adventitia-derived cells in a tissue-engineered human blood vessel.

Whether the adventitia component of blood vessels directly participates in the regulation of vascular tone remains to be demonstrated. We have recently developed a human tissue-engineered blood vessel comprising the three tunicae of a native blood vessel using the self-assembly approach. To investigate the role of the adventitia in the modulation of vascular tone, this tissue-engineering method was used to produce three vascular constructs from cells explanted and proliferated from donor vessel tunicae 1) an adventitia + a media, or only 2) an adventitia, or 3) a media.

Isolation and culture of the three vascular cell types from a small vein biopsy sample.

The availability of small-diameter blood vessels remains a significant problem in vascular reconstruction. In small-diameter blood vessels, synthetic grafts resulted in low patency; the addition of endothelial cells (EC) has clearly improved this parameter, thereby proving the important contribution of the cellular component to the functionality of any construct. Because the optimal source of cells should be autologous, the adaptation of existing methods for the isolation of all the vascular cell types present in a single and small biopsy sample, thus reducing patient's morbidity, is a first step toward future clinical applications of any newly developed tissue-engineered blood vessel.