Myocardial tissue engineering for cardiac repair

The number of patients with heart failure is increasing in the aging population. Heart transplantation remains the only curative treatment option for patients with end-stage heart failure. Because of an organ donor shortage, new organ-independent treatment options are necessary. Different approaches to cardiac repair therapies have been developed and optimized in recent years. One of these promising approaches is myocardial tissue engineering, which refers to the creation of 3-dimensional engineered heart tissue in vitro. This perspective provides an overview of different approaches to tissue engineering, including essentials to improve tissue quality and choice of ideal cell source, as well as an overview of in vitro and in vivo studies. Several hurdles that have to be overcome before clinical application of engineered heart tissue might become a realistic scenario are also addressed.