A systematic review of tissue engineered meniscus and replacement strategies: preclinical models.

Meniscal injuries are among the common sports injuries and their natural healing is limited. Removal of injured meniscus impairs normal knee function and predisposes patients to osteoarthritis. Tissue engineering and replacement strategies provide a novel approach for the treatment of severe meniscus injury. The aim of this article is to review preclinical studies that used approaches for meniscal replacement including growth factors, synthetic and tissue engineered scaffolds and non-meniscal autografts. Medline, EMBASE and UK PubMed search was performed and articles were assessed for inclusion. Included articles were summarised and categorised. Forty seven articles matched the inclusion criteria. The studies were classified according to the approaches used for meniscus replacement. Overall most experiments have shown good tissue integration and biochemical properties of the regenerated tissues. However, only few approaches have demonstrated satisfactory chondroprotective function.