Each year about 40,000 infants are born in the United States with a heart defect. While new technology and surgical innovations have made a tremendous difference in the outcome and quality of life of these young patients, the harsh reality remains that an infant born with heart disease often faces a future of repeated surgeries to replace an outgrown or a congenitally missing heart valve.
Richard Hopkins, MD, Director, Cardiac Surgery Research Laboratories Chief, Adult/Adolescent Congenital Cardiac Surgery and Professor of Surgery, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, is developing a novel procedure that would enable the use of a patient's own cells to fashion a new, bioengineered heart valve. Because the valve would be comprised of living tissue derived from the child's own cells, it would grow and repair itself, and the child's immune system would accept the material as its own.
"The overall goal of the Cardiac Research Laboratory of the Ward Family Center for Congenital Heart Disease, as a translational research laboratory, is to make solid, safe solutions that improve the quality of life for our patients. It's a 'bench to bedside' approach we think will revolutionize heart valve replacement," says Dr. Hopkins. Tissue engineering, as defined by Dr. Hopkins, involves applications to repair or replace structural tissues (for example, bone, cartilage, blood vessels, etc.) with cells combined with biological scaffolds that effectively function on the basis of their mechanical and biological properties. With numerous projects underway, including tissue-engineered heart valves and trachea, heart muscle replacement, cell biology and safety criteria of engineered tissues, as well as patient advocacy, the laboratory is focused on creating scientific methods that are safe, reproducible, that will enhance and ultimately, lengthen the lives of patients.
"At the end of the day, we're going to be successful in cardiac tissue engineering and also serve as advocates for our patients with the introduction of safe clinical innovations," Dr. Hopkins says.
It was across the pond in England, a year after finishing medical school at Duke University that Richard Hopkins, MD, learned about fresh cadaveric human valves being used as a conduit replacement for children born without heart valves. It was this experience that sparked his interest in tissue engineering, as approximately eight out of every 1,000 children are born with a congenital heart condition requiring heart valve replacement.
Upon returning to the states, Dr. Hopkins spent 10 years at Georgetown University studying how to make such human heart tissue better and more durable. From there, Dr. Hopkins spent 11 years at Brown University, continuing his studies on tissue engineering. In 2007, he joined the Cardiac Research Laboratory of Children's Mercy Hospital's Ward Family Center for Congenital Heart Disease.
Dr. Hopkins is a recognized leader in tissue engineering and has authored two books "Cardiac Reconstructions with Allograft Valves" and more recently, "Cardiac Reconstructions with Allograft Tissues."
"I am passionate about the tissue engineering research we're doing. Children's Mercy is truly at the forefront of conducting this life changing research and that's exciting," says Dr. Hopkins.