Regenerative Medicine in the Operating Room at Present and in the Near Future

Regenerative medicine is new concept of therapy for the repair or replacement of tissue/organ deficit caused by disease, surgical removal, and trauma with processed cells/tissues obtained from the patients themselves or other healthy donors. These processed cells/tissues should be fabricated through tissue engineering technology in a clean environment, such as in a cell processing facility, as they are vulnerable to contamination and difficult to purify. As this new concept has spread to every surgical specialty, including orthopedic surgery, cardiac surgery, and general surgery, the need is mounting for not only the understanding of surgeons concerning regenerative medicine but also the development of a specific operating room capable of on-site cell processing in order to implement regenerative medicine in clinical practice. We herein report the recent advances in regenerative medicine and related topics, such as the current status of regenerative medicine, the relevant regulatory systems, and the role of the operating room in this era. For the future development of this field, a multidisciplinary team including surgeons and practitioners and operating room equipped with cell processing capabilities will be necessary.