Finding a reliable valved cardiac conduit for newborn infants and infants has been an elusive goal for decades. Homograft conduit narrowing and progressive valve incompetence are troublesome expectations, and many interventions will be avoided when better solutions emerge. Important progress has been made in tissue engineering, and recipient endothelium-lined conduit is an implantable reality,1 but work remains before a valve scaffold that sustains competence and supports renewable cellular architecture is a practical reality.
