Engineering of bypass conduits to improve patency.

For patients with severe coronary artery and distal peripheral vascular disease not amenable to angioplasty and lacking sufficient autologous vessels there is a pressing need for improvements to current surgical bypass options. It has been decades since any real progress in bypass material has reached mainstream surgical practice. This review looks at possible remedies to this situation. Options considered are methods to reduce prosthetic graft thrombogenicity, including endothelial cell seeding and developments of new prosthetic materials. The promise of tissue-engineered blood vessels is examined with a specific look at how peptides can improve cell adhesion to scaffolds.