The effectiveness of tissue engineering approaches in articular cartilage restoration
Introduction: Damage and degeneration of articular joints is a major healthcare concern. Restorative techniques, mainly the cell-based therapies and autologous or allograft transplants continue to expand, giving surgeons more options for biologic reconstruction of the articular surfaces. However des...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society of Malaysia
2012
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/45275/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/45275/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/45275/1/45275.pdf |
| Summary: | Introduction: Damage and degeneration of articular joints is a major healthcare concern. Restorative techniques, mainly the cell-based therapies and autologous or allograft transplants continue to expand, giving surgeons more options for biologic reconstruction of the articular surfaces. However despite this great evolution, therapeutic uncertainty in the restoration of damaged cartilage using tissue engineering approaches still remains unclear for the surgeon treating patients to make evidence-based decisions. The purpose of this review is to assess the hierarchy of studies dealing with tissue engineering strategies applied to restore the articular cartilage while providing a systematic narrative that will enable clinicians to become familiar with the most recent developments in the field.
Method: Relevant publications on PubMed from the year 2006-2010 were identified using the keyword “articular cartilage restoration” with the following terms: “tissue engineering”, cell based therapy” and “systematic review”. This includes online searches of journals, references and citations to identify English-language literature for restoration of articular cartilage via tissue engineering.
Result: 117 articles were identified via PubMed search. Non English language article (n=18) and 32 other studies not related to the topic were excluded. Common cartilage restorative techniques include microfracture, osteochondral fragment repair, osteochondral allograft, osteochondral autograft, and autologous chondrocyte transplantation. Current approaches are now focusing on the promising third generation cell therapy which delivers cultured chondrocytes via cell carriers or cell seeded scaffolds together with growth factors and mechanical stimuli for improving cartilage tissue repair.
Conclusion: Significant evidence exists now supporting the idea that tissue engineered articular cartilage represents a potentially valid approach to effectively treat cartilage injury or trauma. |
|---|