Regenerative Surgery (MeMo)

Owing to the tremendous advances in health care and the demographic changes that began in the 20th century, there is an increased awareness in the medical profession of the need to address the high demand for the replacement or repair of organs. While there has been great progress in the pharmacological treatment of patients for a variety of conditions since the 1970s, tissue engineering has initiated a new era in the field of regenerative medicine. In contrast to the repair/healing (i.e., reparatio) its focus is on the restitutio ad integrum – the restitution of the organ with the complete resumption of the organ’s function. Regenerative medicine benefits from the flowerishing research in the fields of tissue engineering, biomaterial science, bioand nanotechnology, stem cell biology/cloning, proteomics and genomics. The trio of trauma, aging and disease accounts for the either partial or complete loss of tissues and organs. Most types of tissue possess a limited regenerative potential, thus a spontaneous healing process is possible. However, when the degree of damage passes a certain level, or if the tissue does not exhibit a regenerative potential (for example nerve or cartilage cells), the damaged tissue has to be replaced. Tissue engineering provides a new approach for regenerative medicine by using autologous tissue, while overcoming the fatal donor site morbidity. In general, autologous cells, isolated from only a small biopsy taken from the patient, are expanded ex vitro and are then re-implanted into the cleaned defective site. Considering the fact that tissue engineering can be regarded as the regeneration of biological tissues through the use of cells with the aid of supporting structures (scaffolds) and appropriate bioreactors, great efforts were made to extend the potential applications of tissue engineering to nearly all