7C-3 In Vivo Assessment Method of Tissue-Engineered Vascular Wall Based on Quantitative Elastic Modulus Measurement

Quantitative elastic modulus measurements of tissue- engineered (TE) vascular wall are useful for in vivo clinical follow-up because the elastic modulus is closely related with the biocompatibility, maturity and structural intensity of the vascular wall. While we have presented an in vitro measurement system for the TE vessel prior to grafting it in the previous study, we present a novel and specified method for in vivo assessment and follow-up of the TE vascular wall in this paper. Moreover, the regeneration score for in vivo assessment are also presented based on the measured quantitative elastic modulus. The effectiveness of the proposed assessment method was validated by in vivo experiment using canines.