Prospects of Heart tissue Bioprinting for COVID-19 recovered patients with irreversible heart damage.

Abstract

Endomyocardial biopsy of COVID-19 patients myocardium proves the presence of viral particles along with the cardiogenic shock. 78 out of 100 recovered individuals who take 71 days of treatment had cardiovascular involvement despite recovering from COVID-19. 76% of them had high sensitivity troponin which is an indicator of myocardial damage and 60% had myocardial inflammation, edema, and/or diffuse myocardial fibrosis. Besides, the recently recovered patient’s report reflects ventricular ejection fraction. Due to multiple mutations of the causative agent SARS-CoV-2, it’s still a mystery how we can defeat the virus. Numerous complications are associated with COVID-19 and studies found the association of cardiovascular complications in every individual despite the age consideration, recently. Cardiovascular complications are responsible for sudden cardiac death of both the infected and recovered COVID-19 patients along with long-term cardiovascular effects as damaged myocardial tissues are unable to regenerate and few portions of damaged myocardium can induce damage to the whole heart. The purpose of this research is to do a competitive analysis of the conventional tissue engineering techniques with the upgraded alternative 3D bioprinting to replace the damaged portion of the human heart due to COVID-19. Additionally, this study focuses on the key points for the regeneration of a functional, biocompatible heart that mimics the native heart and the potential of 3D bioprinting to be a novel alternative. Finally, the limitations and current challenges of these techniques are briefly discussed.