Abstract
Myocardial infarction (MI) or heart attack has high mortality rate. It is characterized by massive cardiomyocyte death and reduced cardiac function. MI is a major cause of heart failure. Effective therapies are critical to prevent infarcted heart from progressing into heart failure. Current clinical intervention after MI is mainly focused on coronary reperfusion with the purpose of reintroducing nutrient and oxygen into the damaged area. Yet reperfusion therapy cannot induce the regeneration of new cardiac muscle, and the damaged heart tissue cannot self-regenerate to restore normal tissue features and function. To fully restore cardiac function, transplantation of cells to compensate the lost cardiac cells is necessary. Therapies that improve the function of damaged heart tissue other than fully regeneration have also been explored. These include using acellular biomaterials and control of cardiac fibrosis. This chapter summarizes current approaches for cardiac regeneration and cardiac function improvement.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Polymeric Biomaterials for Tissue Regeneration |
| Subtitle of host publication | From Surface/Interface Design to 3D Constructs |
| Publisher | Springer Singapore |
| Pages | 353-386 |
| Number of pages | 34 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9789811022937 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9789811022920 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2016 |
Keywords
- Antifibrotic therapy
- Biomaterials therapy
- Cell therapy
- Myocardial infarction