Esophagus Decellularization.

In pathologies of the esophagus such as esophageal atresia, cancers and caustic injuries, methods for full thickness esophageal replacement require the sacrifice of healthy intra-abdominal organs such as the stomach and the colon. These methods are associated with high morbidity, mortality and poor functional results. The reconstruction of an esophageal segment by tissue engineering (TE) could answer this problem. For esophageal TE, this approach has been explored mainly by a combination of matrices and cells. In this chapter, we will discuss the studies on full organ esophageal decellularization, including the animal models, the methods of decellularization and recellularization.