Picture: Soft Robotics Laboratory / ETH Zurich
A research team from ETH Zurich and the University Hospital Zurich has developed a novel 3D-printed heart patch designed not only to seal defects but also to promote regeneration of heart tissue. The implant, called the Reinforced Cardiac Patch (RCPatch), has been successfully tested for the first time in animal trials and is described in the journal Advanced Materials.
Currently, heart surgery often uses patches made from bovine pericardium to stabilize damaged areas of the heart wall. These materials are biologically inert, remain permanently in the body, and can cause complications such as calcification, thrombosis, or inflammation. The RCPatch is intended to overcome these drawbacks by fully integrating into the body’s own tissue and then biodegrading.
The implant consists of three functional components: a fine membrane for sealing, a 3D-printed biodegradable polymer scaffold, and a hydrogel infused with living heart muscle cells. The lattice-like scaffold structure is engineered to provide both mechanical stability and support for cell colonization.
“Traditional heart patches do not integrate into the heart tissue and remain permanently in the body. We wanted to solve this problem with our patch, which integrates into the existing heart tissue,” explains Lewis Jones, lead author of the study.“Our goal was to develop a patch that not only closes a defect but also helps to repair it completely,” explains Professor Robert Katzschmann.
In preclinical trials on pig models, the patch was successfully implanted in the left ventricle, preventing bleeding and restoring the heart’s pumping function.
“The scaffold is stable enough and can be filled with a hydrogel containing living cells,” explains Jones.“The big advantage is that the scaffold is completely degraded after the cells have combined with the tissue. This means that no foreign body remains,” explains Jones.
“We were able to show that the patch retains its structural integrity even under real blood pressure,” says Katzschmann.
With these results, the researchers have laid the groundwork for a new generation of heart implants that could not only seal defects but also contribute to functional tissue healing. Further studies will now investigate how the patch behaves over longer periods in a living organism.