A unitary heterolaminar tissue graft construct is prepared by fusing partially overlapped strips or sheets of submucosa tissue. The submucosa components are fused by compressing at least the overlapped positions of said strips between two surfaces under conditions that allow or promote dehydration of the compressed submucosa sheets. Three dimensional graft constructs can be prepared by using complementary non-planar compressive surfaces.
A method for preparing a human or animal tissue by applying a compressive force to a stack of sheets of living tissue thereby inducing adjacent layers to fuse or adhere to each other. The force is applied in direction normal to the surface of the tissue. A multi-layer tissue produced by the method described above can also possess at least two different types of sheets and/or consist essentially of between two and twelve sheets of living tissue. The method can also be used to prepare a planar tissue that can further be incorporated in a multi-layer tissue construct. The methods and tissues described herein are useful for the preparation of engineered tissues.
A method for surgical repair of damaged or diseased head and neck tissues is described. In one aspect of the invention tissue graft constructs comprising vertebrate submucosa or vertebrate basement membrane materials are used to repair and promote growth of endogenous vocal cord tissue.
A matrix, including epithelial basement membrane, for inducing repair of mammalian tissue defects and in vitro cell propagation derived from epithelial tissues of a warm-blooded vertebrate.
Described are medical devices which are or can be used to form tubular medical devices, and related methods. Preferred devices include tubular grafts of biomaterial having lumen walls which present no seam edge that traverses the entire length of the lumen, illustratively including devices having lumen walls which have a discontinuous seam presenting multiple seam edges. Such a device may include a tubular structure formed by inserting a plurality of extensions of a biomaterial sheet through a plurality of corresponding apertures of the sheet.
Disclosed is an esophageal bulking device for implantation below the mucosa in the vicinity of the lower esophageal sphincter. Preferably, the bulking device comprises an expandable hydrogel implant. Also disclosed are methods of treating gastroesophageal reflux disease, by implanting an expandable bulking device below the mucosa in the vicinity of the lower esophageal sphincter. The bulking device may be subsequently explanted from the vicinity of the lower esophageal sphincter.
