Tissue engineering: A 21st century solution to surgical reconstruction

Tissue engineering has emerged as a rapidly expanding approach to address t he organ shortage problem. It is an "interdisciplinary field that applies t he principles and methods of engineering and the life sciences toward the d evelopment of biological substitutes that can restore, maintain, or improve tissue function." Much progress has been made in the tissue engineering of structures relevant to cardiothoracic surgery, including heart valves, blo od vessels, myocardium, esophagus, and trachea. (C) 2001 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.