Tissue-engineered approach to tendon and ligament reconstruction: Current trends

Current graft choices for tendon and ligament reconstruction include autograft and allografts, with more than 900,000 allografts used for reconstructions annually in the United states. Given the limitations of autografts and allografts, both synthetic and naturally derived tissue-engineered scaffolds have been developed. Despite its early success, synthetic grafts have been associated with a high incidence of chronic foreign-body inflammation, debris-induced synovitis, mechanical limitations, and graft failure. Therefore, in recent years the focus has shifted to the use of naturally derived scaffolds and an evolving discipline called “functional tissue engineering which uses a combination of stem cells, biocompatible scaffolds, and mechanical stimulation to produce tissue-engineered constructs suitable to replace or repair load-bearing structures such as tendons and ligaments.

Duke Scholars

Author Thorsten Markus Seyler Orthopaedic Surgery