Biomaterials for Cardiac Tissue Engineering

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are a leading death cause in developed countries (1 of every 3 deaths in the United States in 2008) [1]. Changes in diet and habits are causing CVD to become major mortality pathologies in developing countries too [2] (they are already responsible for a 30% of the world deaths). This group of diseases constitutes a great burden for the national health systems, consuming great percentages of the health systems budgets. In the particular case of the coronary heart diseases (CHD), 3,8 million men and 3,4 million women die a year worldwide because of them [3]. In the United States 1 of every 6 deaths in 2008 was caused by CHD [1].