OBJECTIVES Although bioprostheses are widely used in cardiovascular surgery, their durability is limited due to degeneration. Degeneration of bioprostheses limiting its clinical use results from multiple factors, and immune reaction has been considered to be one of the most important factors. The study objectives were to compare the mechanical characteristic differences of porcine and bovine pr...

The ability of residual antigens on decellularized tissue to elicit the immune response upon implantation motivates development of a more rigorous antigen removal (AR) process for xenogeneic scaffold generation. Antigen removal strategies promoting solubilization of hydrophilic proteins (predominantly cytoplasmic) enhance the reduction of hydrophilic antigenicity in bovine pericardium (BP); how...

We report a case of two babies with absence of pericardium and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). The absence of pericardium was found coincidentally during PDA ligation. The PDA was successfully ligated but the pericardium was not reconstructed. Postoperatively, the agenesis of the pericardium did not interfere with cardiac function.