Progress on materials and scaffold fabrications applied to esophageal tissue engineering

The mortality rate from esophageal disease like atresia, carcinoma, tracheoesophageal fistula, etc. is increasing rapidly all over the world. Traditional therapies such as surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy have been met with very limited success resulting in reduced survival rate and quality of patients' life. Tissue-engineered esophagus, a novel substitute possessing structure and function similar to native tissue, is believed to be an effective therapy and a promising replacement in the future. However, research on esophageal tissue engineering is still at an early stage. Considerable research has been focused on developing ideal scaffolds with optimal materials and methods of fabrication. This article gives a review of materials and scaffold fabrications currently applied in esophageal tissue engineering research.

► Natural and synthesized materials are being developed as scaffold matrices.
► Several technologies have been applied to reconstruct esophagus tissue scaffold.
► Tissue-engineered esophagus is a promising artificial replacement.