en Hematology Hematology Review Review Heart failure is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. End stage disease often requires heart transplantation, which is hampered by donor organ shortage. Tissue engineering represents a promising alternative approach for cardiac repair. For the generation of artificial heart muscle tissue several cell types, scaffold materials and bioreactor designs are under investigation. In this review, the use of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human umbilical cord tissue (UCMSC) for cardiac tissue engineering will be discussed. Umbilical cord tissue, mesenchymal stem cells, cardiac differentiation, non-degradable scaffolds, polytetrafluorethylene, titanium, bioreactor 119 132 http://ijmcmed.org/browse.php?a_code=A-10-32-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Trixi Hollweck Trixi.Hollweck@med.uni-muenchen.de 10031947532846002287 10031947532846002287 No Cardiac Surgery Department, Munich University Medical Center, Munich, Germany. Christian Hagl Christian.Hagl@med.uni-muenchen.de 10031947532846002288 10031947532846002288 No Cardiac Surgery Department, Munich University Medical Center, Munich, Germany. Günther Eissner Guenther.Eissner@med.uni-muenchen.de 10031947532846002289 10031947532846002289 Yes Cardiac Surgery Department, Munich University Medical Center, Munich, Germany.