There is a great demand for small-diameter vascular grafts in clinical practice, particularly for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and hemodialysis access. Compared with synthetic vascular grafts made from synthetic materials such as Dacron or polytetrafluoroethylene, tissue engineered vascular grafts better meet with the critical requirements of the vascular grafts. While several methods can be adopted for the fabrication of tissue engineered vascular grafts, the in vivo approach holds great promise. In vivo tissue engineered vascular grafts involve utilizing the foreign body response of the patient’s body to biomaterials, the completely autologous tissues generated through this process are also called biotubes. Recent studies have developed a series of strategies to construct in vivo tissue engineered vascular grafts from the aspects of surface modification of implants, structural design of molds, and in situ physical stimulation. Consequently, these studies and clinical trials showed that in vivo tissue engineered vascular grafts had significant clinical application potential and great advantages in vascular endothelial cells and functional smooth muscle regeneration, along with biocompatibility, procedural feasibility and low costs. This review aims to provide critical insights into the latest advancements in the strategies for in vivo tissue engineered vascular grafts production, as well as to elucidate challenges and prospects for the clinical translation of these vascular grafts. • Systematically reviews the mechanisms of fabricating in vivo TEVGs by harnessing the FBR. • Elucidates the historical development of in vivo TEVGs and the limitations of early studies. • Summarizes the latest fabrication strategies for optimizing the performance of in vivo TEVGs. • Provides critical insights into the clinical translation, challenges, and future prospects of in vivo TEVGs.
Zheng et al. (Sun,) studied this question.